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Monday, January 30. 2017

Most of what I have to say both about new music and EOY lists has
already appeared in last week's
Streamnotes post. Since
then I added the new David Weiss album to my nascent
2017 A-list. Still almost exclusively
jazz because that's what I have physical copies of, but I'm working on
the xx -- new album is as slow to catch as the old ones, but Tatum likes
it a lot and I'm sorta getting there.

Updated
EOY Aggregate file to include
the Village Voice's
Pazz + Jop
results, as well as Robert Christgau's
ean's List. I wrote some extra code for the latter to include
the reviews in the CG database -- all but eight records appear
(some appeared at Noisey after my last update, some have yet to
appear).

Glenn McDonald's tabulation of Pazz + Jop results is
here.
I didn't see a link to this at from the Voice site, so I'm personally
late in looking at it. Here's my own
ballot analysis: my centricity score was 0.887 (451 of 542), less
than my historic average, although I only voted for one record this
time that no one else listed (Chemistry, by Houston Person &
Ron Clarke, one of those marvelous mainstream sax albums I'm so partial
to). Still, the hive think this year was such that I fell into the most
obscurantist decile despite voting for three albums with 10+ other votes:
Drive-By Truckers (55), Brandy Clark (20), Aesop Rock (10). The most
similar ballots to mine were by
Todd Kristel
(3 common albums; he was the only other voter for Aly Keita's
Kalo-Yele; 9 of his albums were on my A-list, the only exception
a *** for Car Seat Headrest, and he was the only one to vote for Tom Zé's
Canções Eróticas de Ninar) and
Tim Riley
(2 common albums, DBT and Clark, only 6 A-list, I wasn't among his 16
most similar ballots).

Among voters I've been similar to in the past,
Jason Gubbels had my 6th most similar ballot (common votes for David
Murray and Brandy Clark; 7 A-list, 3 ***), and
Michael Tatum was 12th (common vote for DBT, 6 A-list, 2 ***, 2 lower).
Tatum's most similar ballot belonged to
Robert Christgau (not on my common list, but we both had DBT, and he
had 9 of my A-list albums plus one ***), so if the ballots went deeper we
would have been more similar. Looking at these lists, perhaps I should
reconsider Car Seat Headrest and American Honey. I wouldn't be
surprised if either rose a notch if I bothered to give them much more
time. By the way, Gubbels' long, unranked EOY list is
here.

I hope to resume work on the Jazz Guide(s), which got interrupted
a couple months ago due to a computer crash.

Saturday, January 28. 2017

Lot of records below, as I've been trying to wrap up what I hadn't
gotten to in 2016 -- especially items I wasn't aware of until they
showed up on one or more of the 431 EOY lists I've been
aggregating.

I've managed to listen to and grade 1074 records released in 2016
(see list, frozen as of
today). This is down from 1110 in
2015, which itself was
down from 1166 in
2014 -- a downward trend
I expect to continue, mostly because I keep getting fewer records
to review in the mail, but also because I'm getting older, blinder,
crankier, more tired, and more easily bored. Perhaps a better
measure of this is that my A-lists have gotten notably shorter
this year: 74
Jazz and 62
Non-Jazz this
year, vs. 81 and 83, respectively, in 2015. Moreover, in the
week-to-date, I've reviewed 28 records without finding a single
new release A- to add to the list (aside from one compilation
of old music: Putumayo Presents: African Rumba), and
only three B+(***) -- I usually pick up the pace as I close
out a column, so this rather ominously suggests I'm scraping
the bottom of the barrel.

Of course, I don't really believe that. One reason for the
A-list drops is that I added 14 records (about half the current
deficit) to the 2015 files after
last year's freeze date: Daveed Diggs, The Yawpers, Ursula 1000,
Audio One, Charles Gayle, Eszter Balint, Beans on Toast, Radical
Dads, Paul Dunmall, Tribu Baharú, Fred Hersch, Arca, Shopping,
Drive-By Truckers; and post-cutoff, High Definition Quartet.
Good chance the next few months will reveal close to a dozen
A-list albums I've thus far missed. In fact, there are a handful
of 2015 releases below, mostly ones I wasn't previously aware
of.

Also a handful of 2017 releases, which thus far are grading out
well above the norm, probably because I've been prioritizing old
favorites -- François Carrier, Ellery Eskelin, Satoko Fujii, Matthew
Shipp, David Murray, Randy Weston, Miguel Zenón. That ratio won't
hold, but even if civilization collapses between now and the end
of the year, the 2017 lists won't be empty.

Worth noting that the total number of records covered in this
column since I decided to keep brief notes on what I streamed back
in 2007 has now passed 9000. Not all are streamed, especially since
I folded in Jazz Prospecting starting in 2014 -- see the bracketed
notes at the end of reviews for sources -- but streaming services
like Rhapsody/Napster have made it possible to broaden my coverage
(as well as pretty much stop buying CDs at all).

Most of these are short notes/reviews based on streaming records
from Napster (formerly Rhapsody; other sources are noted in brackets).
They are snap judgments based on one or two plays, accumulated since
my last post along these lines, back on December 31. Past reviews and
more information are available
here (9134 records).

Recent Releases

21 Savage/Metro Boomin: Savage Mode (2016, self-released):
Atlanta rapper (Shayaa Bin Abraham-Joseph) and producer (Leland Tyler
Wayne), billed as an EP but at 9 cuts, 32:22 feels pretty substantial,
especially as none of the tunes are in any hurry to end. Gangsta, at
least formally, and form matters a lot here, all speak softly and carry
a big dick -- not a line, by the way -- more like "I'm in savage mode"
and "I'm a real nigga," but that's the vibe.
A-

Amanar: Tumastin (2015 [2016], Sahel Sounds): Tuareg
guitar band, originally from Kidal deep in northeast Mali, now in exile.
Seems like a perfectly average Saharan blues album, its evenness a good
deal of its charm.
B+(*)

BJ Barham: Rockingham (2016, self-released):
Singer-songwriter from the title town in North Carolina, former
singer in a band called American Aquarium. Debut album is short
(eight cuts, 32:46), plain-spoken, sober, decent, can't help
but like him. Voice recalls young John Prine, which is why I
noticed he's not nearly as funny. Still: "And when I die I want
to look God in the eye and ask him why he gave up on this place."
A-

Luke Bell: Luke Bell (2016, Bill Hill): Country
singer-songwriter from Wyoming, third album, second eponymous one (I
guess because no one noticed the first, or maybe this is a relaunch).
Goes for a classic honky-tonk sound ("with a wink and a yodel"), and
mostly hits it.
B+(***)

Jim Black/Óskar Gudjónsson/Elias Stemeseder/Chris Tordini:
Mala Mute (2016 [2017], Intakt): Drummer, a terrific one,
has had some success with "plugged in" ensembles before (such as
his AlasNoAxis group), tries another twist on the formula here.
The others, otherwise unknown to me, play tenor sax, keyboards, and
electric bass, respectively, generating texture and tone but not
a lot of heat.
B+(*) [cd]

Mykki Blanco: Mykki (2016, !K7): Michael Quattlebaum
Jr., rapper from Orange County, California, "performance artist, poet
and activist." "African-American Jewish," took his name from "a teenage
girl character for a YouTube video" and "Lil' Kim's alter ego Kimmy
Blanco," considers himself "transgender and multi-gendered," is "HIV
positive." First LP after a couple EPs. Not much I'm following here.
B+(*)

Bibi Bourelly: Free the Real (Pt. 1) (2016, Circa
13/Def Jam, EP): Born in Berlin, grew up in Maryland, of Moroccan and
Haitian descent, father is jazz guitarist Jean-Paul Bourelly, wrote
a couple songs that were picked up by Rihanna. Five cuts, 14:47, too
hard for dance pop, if not life.
B+(*)

Bibi Bourelly: Free the Real (Pt. 2) (2016, Circa 13/Def
Jam, EP): Six cuts, 18:46. Continues to impress as talented and serious,
but this is a hard slog for little reward.
B

Jakob Bro: Streams (2015 [2016], ECM): Danish guitarist,
has a dozen albums since 2007, this his second on ECM. Trio, with Thomas
Morgan on bass and Joey Baron on drums, mild and unexceptional.
B [dl]

Peter Brötzmann & ICI Ensemble: Beautiful Lies
(2014 [2016], Neos Jazz): Munich-based large group (nonet: three
reeds with Markus Heinze doubling on cornet, two more brass, piano,
bass, drums, and Gunnar Geisse on laptop), fourth album including
three with guest stars. Two long pieces (31:41 and 40:13). Not sure
anyone would ID the guest here, but the band fits his calling.
B+(*)

The Uri Caine Trio: Calibrated Thickness (2015 [2016],
816 Music): Front cover gives Clarence Penn (drums) and Mark Helias
(bass) equal credit to the pianist, but back cover spells out the Trio
and notes "special Guest Kirk Knuffke -- cornet." The guest, appearing
on less than half the cuts, is anticlimactic, but the pianist dazzles
on the trio cuts.
B+(***)

Judy Carmichael/Harry Allen: Can You Love Once More?
(2016, GAC): Singer (since 1980) and tenor saxophonist (a decade younger),
credit line actually reads "Judy & Harry Play Carmichael & Allen" --
all original pieces, backed by Mike Renzi (piano), Mike Karn (bass), and
Alvin Atkinson (drums). Their new standards are classically structured but
with postmodern wit -- I look forward to hearing "Take Me Back to Macchu
Picchu" elsewhere -- the ballads dragging a bit but mostly relative to
the way Allen rips through the fast ones. He is really terrific here.
She, by the way, has a reputation as a pianist -- even has published two
books on stride.
A-

François Carrier/Michel Lambert/Alexey Lapin: Freedom Is Space
for the Spirit (2014 [2017], FMR): Alto sax/Chinese oboe, drums,
piano, recorded in St. Petersburg, a year after the same trio recorded
two volumes of The Russian Concerts. Sketchy, finds its own
beauty in chaos, and here and there erupts into something wonderful.
A- [cd]

Shirley Collins: Lodestar (2016, Domino): English
folksinger, b. 1935 in East Sussex, recorded a dozen or more records
from 1959 up to 1980, some with sister Dolly Collins, some with
Ashley Hutchings and/or the Albion Band before taking a 35-year
hiatus. Her voice has suffered, but I doubt genre fans will mind --
I find it lends the music depth and resonance.
B+(***)

Shawn Colvin/Steve Earle: Colvin & Earle
(2016, Fantasy): I first ran into her singing backup for Richard
Thompson, so I suppose I've always considered her a secondary
voice, although I must admit to having liked the one album of
hers I've heard: 1996's A Few Small Repairs. She has ten
previous albums, and Earle probably has twice as many, as well
as the more distinctive voice, one that can cut through to the
lead but he's too reserved here to do that. Nice balance, but
I could think of better songs to cover.
B+(*)

Gustavo Cortiñas Snapshot: Esse (2016 [2017], OA2):
Drummer, from Mexico City, studied in New Orleans and Chicago, and
has been based in the US for "close to a decade." Postbop group with
trumpet (Justin Copeland), tenor sax (Roy McGrath or Artie Black),
trombone, guitar, piano, and bass -- another band named for a previous
album.
B+(*) [cd]

Sandy Cressman: Entre Amigos (2016 [2017], Cressman
Music): Singer, born in New York, raised in San Jose, based somewhere
in the Bay Area, somehow stumbled into a Brazilian groove and made
herself at home -- nine (of ten) titles here in Portuguese. Not sure
of the credits, but trombonist Jeff Cressman makes an appearance.
B+(*) [cd]

Stephan Crump/Ingrid Laubrock/Cory Smythe: Planktonic
Finales (2015 [2017], Intakt): Bassist, has put together
an exceptional series of albums, mostly by highlighting his own
playing but he has more trouble establishing himself here. Laubrock
plays doggedly avant tenor and soprano sax, Smythe offer some
piano flourishes.
B+(*) [cd]

Alan Cumming: Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs: Live at the
Cafe Carlyle (2016, Yellow Sound): Scottish actor, I've
mostly seen him as Chicago political strategist Eli Gold on The
Good Wife but first encountered him as the lead in a Broadway
production of Cabaret (practically the only time I've ever
attended such a thing). He has one previous album, and is a credible
standards singer (if that's what these are). Way too much patter,
but that's part of his charm.
B+(*)

Tim Daisy/Marc Riordan: Joyride (2016, Relay):
Drums/piano duo from Chicago, Daisy the drummer in various projects
of Ken Vandermark and/or Dave Rempis, Riordan has an earlier quartet
album (with Daisy on drums, although Riordan has also played drums
in other groups). Impressive free piano, fast both on track and off
the rails.
B+(***) [bc]

Tim Daisy: Red Nation "1" (2016 [2017], Relay):
Avant drummer from Chicago, was first noticed when he joined the
Vandermark 5, and has been busy ever since. This one is solo:
"turntables, drums, radios, gongs and other found objects."
B+(**) [cd]

The Brian Dickinson Quintet: The Rhythm Method (2015
[2017], Addo): Toronto-based pianist, has a couple previous albums
(one from 1990), uses two saxes here (Luis Deniz on alto and Kelly
Jefferson on tenor), bass, and drums. Lushly evocative postbop, not
something I particularly like although it's hard to deny the chops.
B+(*) [cd]

Dr. Mint: Voices in the Void (2016 [2016], Orenda):
Fusion group, have several albums. I filed it under the first name
listed -- trumpet player Daniel Rosenbloom rather than saxophonist
Gavin Templeton -- but the horns matter less than the electric guitar
(Alexander Noice) and bass (Sam Minaie) and their FX, let alone the
drums (Caleb Dolister).
B+(*) [cd]

Laura Dubin Trio: Live at the Xerox Rochester International
Jazz Festival (2016 [2017], self-released, 2CD): Pianist,
backed by bass (Kieron Hanlon) and drums (Antonio H. Guerrero), at
great length, mixing originals and standards, playing them all with
emphatic panache. I'm impressed by her chops, less so by her vision.
B+(*) [cd]

Echoes of Swing: Dancing (2016, ACT): German quartet --
Colin T. Dawson (trumpet & vocals), Chris Hopkins (alto sax), Bernd
Lhotzky (piano & celeste), Oliver Mewes (drums) -- have been together
a decade-plus, backward looking but not really a trad jazz group. They
survey a long line of dance tune and dance-referred standards, ranging
from a Bach gavotte, a Joplin rag, and a James P. Johnson Charleston
through "Moonlight Serenade" and Hopkins' original "Hipsters Hop" --
never really kicking up much of a storm. Dawson's infrequent vocals are
quickly forgotten.
B+(*)

Ellery Eskelin/Christian Weber/Michael Griener: Sensations
of Tone (2016 [2017], Intakt): Tenor sax trio, recorded in
Brooklyn but not Eskelin's usual New York Trio -- bassist Weber is
Swiss, drummer Griener German. Also not the usual fare as they mix
four old songs -- "Shreveport Stomp," "China Boy," "Moten Swing,"
and "Ain't Misbehavin'" -- in with four joint originals. The stomps
and swings are done with sly understatement, distance and affection --
I especially love the latter, instantly recognizable yet brand new.
A- [cd]

The Fall: Wise Ol' Man (2016, Cherry Red, EP): Mark
E. Smith's long-running (since 1979) post-punk group, considered an
EP but more due to the rehashed songs -- two new, the rest alternates
and remixes from Sub-Lingual Tablet -- than length (7 tracks,
34:06). Relies more on sound than songcraft.
B+(*)

Fanfare Ciocarlia: Onwards to Mars! (2016, Asphalt
Tango): Romanian brass band, twenty-year veterans, jazz up the local
folk and even take a quirky stab at "I Put a Spell on You."
B+(***)

Free Nelson Mandoomjazz: The Organ Grinder (2016,
RareNoise): Alto sax trio from Scotland, led by Rebecca Sneddon
with Colin Stewart on electric bass and Paul Archibald on drums
(percussion, piano, organ). Third album, with guests Patrick Danley
on trombone (2 tracks) and Luc Klein on trumpet (4 tracks, one with
both). The extra horns don't help much, and the organ later on is
truly doomed.
B+(*)

Satoko Fujii Orchestra Tokyo: Peace (2014 [2017],
Libra): Japanese pianist, has at least four iterations of her big
band named for cities she works in -- hitherto, the New York band,
with its surfeit of individual stars, has been most impressive,
but the ensemble work here is peerless, and the score is chock
full of brilliant ideas.
A- [cd]

Fumaça Preta: Impuros Fanáticos (2016, Soundway):
Led by Portuguese/Venezuelan drummer Alex Figueira, based in the
Netherlands, had an impressive 2014 eponymous album, this sophomore
effort dives even deeper into the psychedelic creases between their
mishmash of everything, which doesn't make it better, or anything
clearer.
B+(*)

Gaika: Security (2016, Mixpak): Brixton rapper, has
a couple mixtapes, this the one getting the most attention. Bounces
off grime and trip-hop without fitting in anywhere.
B+(*)

Brent Gallaher: Moving Forward (2016 [2017], V&B):
Tenor saxophonist, leads a conventional hard bop quintet with Alex Pope
Norris on trumpet and Dan Karlsberg on piano, not that in this postbop
era they care to keep it hard.
B [cd]

Gallant: Ology (2016, Mind of a Genius/Warner Brothers):
R&B singer, first name Christopher, debut album after an EP and some
remixes, can reach for a nice falsetto, and generally impresses except
when lyrics like "what good is a sword next to a shotgun?" sandbag him.
B+(*)

Slava Ganelin/Lenny Sendersky: Hotel Cinema (2016,
Leo): The Russian-Israeli pianist, namesake of the legendary Ganelin
Trio, is credited with "Korg MicroStation, computer Dell"; Sendersky
plays "reeds," so this is a duo, although the synths are geared up
to give the air of an orchestra. One 45:03 piece, symphonic in scope
though more intimate in its recognizable solos, including some
trademark piano.
B+(**)

Vince Gill: Down to My Last Bad Habit (2016, MCA
Nashville): Nashville country singer-songwriter, leans on the neotrad
side of mainstream, smart enough to admit his mistakes and to profess
his weaknesses, his "last bad habit," naturally enough, being you.
B+(*)

Barry Guy/Ken Vandermark: Occasional Poems (2014 [2015],
Not Two, 2CD): Bass and sax/clarinet duets, recorded live at Alchemia
Club in Krakow, runs 86:13. Remarkable on both ends.
B+(***)

Terrie Hessels & Ken Vandermark: Splinters
(2014-15 [2016], Audiograph): Duets, the once (and future) Terrie Ex
playing guitar, Vandermark credited with reeds. Three short pieces
from Vienna (2015), one long one from Eindhoven (35:35, 2014), the
title apt in that this falls apart rather than comes together.
B+(*) [bc]

Cynthia Hilts: Lyric Fury (2014 [2017], Blond Coyote):
Pianist, sings some -- two lyrics printed on packaging, "Peace Now"
will bug those who object to preachiness but I'd say the message is
right on. Good to hear trumpeter Jack Walrath in the band, which
includes two saxes, trombone, cello, bass and drums. Long.
B+(*)

Lonnie Holley: Keeping a Record of It (2013,
Dust-to-Digital): Best known for making sculptures out of junk,
an aesthetic he carries over into his music -- as eccentric as
Swamp Dogg, not nearly as skilled, but grows on you anyway.
B+(**)

Horse Lords: Interventions (2016, Northern Spy):
Instrumental group, guitar-bass-drums-sax with electronics mixed
in somewhere, rockish rhythmically but they'd rather focus their
improvisation on clang and drone, so has a post-fusion jazz air.
B+(**)

Ethan Iverson: The Purity of the Turf (2016, Criss
Cross): Pianist, first trio album under his own name since 1999's
The Minor Passions, having devoted most of his energies to
Bad Plus and occasionally ducking the spotlight in groups given to
other leaders. Ron Carter and Nasheet Waits get him out of Bad mode,
which would have been a step down a decade ago but is probably for
the best today.
B+(**)

Cody Jinks: I'm Not the Devil (2016, Cody Jinks Music):
Country singer-songwriter from Texas, started out in a thrash metal band
called Unchecked Aggression. Has a half-dozen albums, this the first to
come anyway near a chart. Great country voice, fairly good songs.
B+(**)

Howard Johnson and Gravity: Testimony (2016 [2017],
Tuscarora): Tuba player, age 75, also plays baritone sax, long noted
as a sideman -- his mid-1960s credits include Charles Mingus and
Archie Shepp -- and had a long run with the George Gruntz Concert
Band. He formed his tuba-heavy group Gravity in 1995, and they're
back here: Velvet Brown, Dave Bergeron, Earl McIntyre, Joseph Daley,
and (of course) Bob Stewart. Backed with piano trio, they swing
plenty hard, but attempts to lighten the mood -- including Johnson's
penny whistle -- are less successful.
B+(**)

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: Nonagon Infinity
(2016, ATO): Australian rock band, genrefied as garage, psychedelic,
progressive, and/or experimental, none of which strike me as applicable:
they're too clean for garage, too mainstream for anything else, but
they crank up a lot of guitars (at least three) and synths and keep
them humming along, pretty upbeat.
B+(*)

The Klezmatics: Apikorsim/Heretics (2016, World Village):
New York new wave klezmer band celebrates its 30th anniversary with its
twelfth album, a celebration of heresy -- or so I gather (lyrics are, so
far as I can tell, in Yiddish, and I lack any sort of lyric sheet). Not
sure why I'm hedging over not understanding the words, as Lorin Sklamberg's
vocals are as mesmerizing as ever. Maybe it's just that after thirty years
their excellence has become their mean.
B+(***)

Joachim Kühn New Trio: Beauty & Truth (2015 [2016],
ACT): German pianist, past 70, long discography goes back to 1969, with
Chris Jennings (bass) and Eric Schaefer (drums). Title track is from
Ornette Coleman, an old touchstone, and other covers include Gershwin,
Komeda, Gil Evans, and two Doors songs. Bright, even there.
B+(**)

Rolf Kühn: Spotlights (2016, Edel/MPS): This popped up
in a reissues poll, but I can't find any evidence of it having been
previously released, or indeed of being very old -- the clarinetist,
elder brother of Joachim Kühn (pianist here), was 87 when this came
out, and some of the other musicians are much younger (e.g., drummer
Christian Lillinger, 32).
B+(**)

Laurie Lewis & the Right Hands: The Hazel and Alice
Sessions (2016, Spruce and Maple): Dickens and Gerrard,
who earned their debut title (Pioneering Women of Bluegrass,
1965) and topped it with 1973's Hazel and Alice -- obviously,
if you don't know those classic albums go there first. Lewis, in her
mid-sixties now, has carved out a respectable career in bluegrass,
but her voice will never grab you like theirs. Still, this reminds
me how great the songs are, especially "Working Girl Blues."
B+(***)

Mark Lewis: New York Session (2015 [2017], Audio
Daddio): Alto saxophonist, hard to Google because his name is shared
by many more famous Mark Lewises (although, oddly enough, the first
one listed for me was WSU's assistant bowling coach). So I don't have
any idea what his background or discography are, but he has a lovely
tone on alto, and the New Yorker rhythm section he picked up is superb:
George Cables, Victor Lewis, Essiet Essiet. Also plays flute.
B+(**) [cd]

Lil Yachty: Summer Songs 2 (2016, Quality Control):
Atlanta rapper Miles McCollum, second mixtape (first Lil Boat;
2015's Summer Songs was the first of four EPs). Plodding, with
dub overtones. Could it be that some of the EOY votes I recorded for
this were meant for Lil Boat? (Pretty likely. Best thing here
are fan testimonials citing that mixtape.)
B-

Lil Yachty: Lil Boat (2016, Quality Control):
Earlier mixtape, came out in March vs. July for Summer Songs 2.
Not much going on here either. Passable line (repeated dozens of
times): "fuck you, you fucked me over."
B

Little Simz: Stillness in Wonderland (2016, Age 101):
British rapper, Simbi Ajikawo, second album after a bunch of EPs and
mixtapes. Nothing jumps out here.
B

Lasse Marhaug & Ken Vandermark: Close Up (For Abbas
Kiarostami) (2016, Audiographic): Marhaug does avant-electronics,
which is to say he's unconcerned with beats, or melody, or much of
anything else that might be recognizable. Vandermark plays saxes
and/or clarinets, and early on seems determined to play even uglier
than his collaborator -- who's appeared in various recent Vandermark
projects but it's rarely been clear what he contributes. This may
help in that regard, if one cares. Kiarostami, by the way, is an
Iranian filmmaker.
B [bc]

Terrace Martin: Velvet Portraits (2016, Ropeadope):
Better known as a producer, but has several albums ranging from
hip-hop to jazz to funk, and plays some saxophone. As eclectic as
one might expect. My choice cut is "Patiently Waiting" -- a classic
soul ballad.
B

Hedvig Mollestad Trio: Black Stabat Mater (2016,
Rune Grammofon): Norwegian fusion trio, led by guitarist Hedvig
Mollestad Thomassen, with Ellen Brekken on bass and Ivar Loe
Bjørnstad on drums. Improvises a bit on '70s heavy metal licks,
invoking a time when they were still interesting.
B+(*)

Hedvig Mollestad Trio: EVIL in Oslo (2015 [2016],
Rune Grammofon): Released same day as the studio album Black
Stabat Mater, no recording dates given so unclear which came
first, but my guess is that Evil is just a play on Live.
It's the longer record, more varied, takes a while to develop
but climaxes strong.
B+(*)

Kjetil Møster/Hans Magnus Ryan/Ståle Storløkken/Thomas Strønen:
Reflections in Cosmo (2016 [2017], RareNoise): Artist
names not on album cover, but I'm working off a CDR so will take the
liberty. Respectively: sax, guitar, keyboards, drums, playing up an
avant-fusion storm -- Ryan, from Motorpsycho, most in character.
B+(**) [cdr]

Wolfgang Muthspiel: Rising Grace (2016, ECM):
German guitarist, influenced early on by Metheny and Scofield but
has gone on to do remarkable work in his own right. Quintet here,
a surfeit of riches with Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet), Brad Mehldau
(piano), Larry Grenadier (bass), and Brian Blade (drums).
B+(**) [dl]

Simon Nabatov/Mark Dresser/Dominik Mahnig: Equal Poise
(2014 [2016], Leo): Piano trio, recorded live at LOFT in Cologne, same
year as Nabatov and Dresser recorded a fine duo album (Projections).
No problem adding a drummer, but the pianist commands your attention.
B+(***)

Simon Nabatov Trio: Picking Order (2015 [2016], Leo):
Cologne-based piano trio, with Stefan Schönegg on bass and Dominik
Mahnig on drums. Most persuasive at its most percussive.
B+(**)

Ted Nash Big Band: Presidential Suite: Eight Variations on
Freedom (2016, Motéma, 2CD): Alto saxophonist, has played in
a few big bands in his day, evidently scored a big time commission
here, hiring an all-star band and lining up celebrities to read bits
from eight iconic speeches -- not that Joe Lieberman does justice to
JFK, or that we've forgotten that Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan
destroyed far more freedom than they ever created. The music is no
less encrusted with cliché.
B

Youssou N'Dour & Le Super Etoile: #Senegaal Rekk
(2016, self-released, EP): Product status mysterious, but length looks
to be 24 minutes -- I've found several copies more/less that length on
YouTube, as well as shorter ones. Also looks like N'Dour has a longer
album called Africa Rekk, out on some tentacle of Sony, but I'm
not finding it either. Impressive music, but YouTube is a lousy way to
listen to it.
A- [yt]

Tami Neilson: Don't Be Afraid (2015, self-released):
New Zealand's answer to Wanda Jackson. Best when she sticks with that,
or deepens it a bit on blues like "Bury My Body" or "Holy Moses"; less
so when she aims for Patsy Cline.
B+(**)

Oles Brothers & Antoni Gralak: Primitivo (2016,
ForTune): Twin brothers Marcin and Bartlomiej Oles (bass and drums,
respectively), long one of Poland's most sought-after rhythm sections,
in a trio with trumpeter Gralak -- 18 years older but not nearly as
well known (he's mostly worked in groups: Tie Break, Graal, Yeshe).
They scoured early (primitive) recordings for ideas: old ones, as
deep and universal as possible. Terrific all around, especially the
bass.
A- [bc]

Preoccupations: Preoccupations (2016, Jagjaguwar):
Canadian alt-rock band previously known as Viet Cong, probably renamed
after some marketers fretted about the huge US market. So while they
sound even more like those forgettable lefty Brit bands from the 1980s
(i.e., not Gang of Four or Mekons or even Three Johns), they're betting
against revolution.
B+(*)

Isaiah Rashad: The Sun's Tirade (2016, Top Dawg
Entertainment): Rapper, from Chattanooga, first official studio album
after a well-regarded 49:29 EP (Cilvia Demo), has a nice, even
flow, the kind of thing I enjoy but rarely catch much from.
B+(**)

Dave Rempis/Elisabeth Harnik/Michael Zerang: Wistfully
(2013 [2016], Aerophonic): Recorded in pianist Harnik's home town of
Graz, Austria, at a club called WIST (hence the title, with Rempis on
alto and tenor sax, and Zerang percussion. A bit scattered.
B+(*) [bc]

Dave Rempis/Joe Morris/Tomeka Reid/Jim Baker: Nettles
(2013 [2016], Aerophonic): Guitarist Morris visits Chicago, records
this at an impromptu session at Elastic Arts, the sax-cello-piano
following his lead, which isn't much lead at all. What you get is a
more elaborate version of the prickly noodling of his early records.
Not without interest.
B+(*) [bc]

Dawn Richard: Redemption (2016, Our Dawn): Nu soul
singer-songwriter, previously associated with Diddy (or whatever his
name was), has two previous studio albums so this one is styled as
the tail-end of a trilogy. Strikes me as the most engaging of the
three.
B+(**)

Richmond Fontaine: You Can't Go Back if There's Nothing to
Go Back To (2016, Fluff & Gravy): Alt-country group from
Portland, eleventh album since 1996, a vehicle for singer-songwriter
Willy Vlautin, who's also written four novels. Solid record, graceful
tunes for a guy who thinks long and hard about his words.
B+(***)

Randy Rogers Band: Nothing Shines Like Neon (2016,
Tommy Jackson): Texas band, starts with a paean to San Antone, heavy
on the pedal steel. Not much western swing after that, just a good
ol' bar band. Highlight is a slacker anthem, "Takin' It as It Comes,"
courtesy of Jerry Jeff Walker.
B+(*)

Jeff Rosenstock: Worry (2016, Side One Dummy):
Rock and roller from Long Island, somewhere on the plane between
rockabilly and punk but not very close to either (although note
17 songs in 37:42). Came up in bands like Arrogant Sons of Bitches
(1998-2006) and Bomb the Music Industry! (2005-11). Sample lyrics:
"if you scream and no one hears you/are you even making noise?";
"we don't want to live inside a hell hole/waste our energy on all
these assholes."
B+(*)

Run the Jewels: Run the Jewels 3 (2016 [2017], Run
the Jewels): Producer El-P and rapper Killer Mike, second album scored
high on 2014 EOY lists but this one appeared too late for notice in
2016 (digital release Dec. 24) but the CD release held back until Jan.
13, we'll treat it as a 2017 release. Much as before, the beats are
forced hard, the rhymes dense, the one I caught about refusing to kill
for the government makes sense to me, also the one about "mama said."
A-

L.A. Salami: Dancing With Bad Grammar (2016, PIAS
America): British singer-songwriter, Nigerian descent (L.A. short for
Lookman Adekunle) but you'd never guess. I made him for a folkie, and
for a while thought he sounded more like Dylan than anyone since the
young Ian Hunter. Was ready to write him off, then "Aristotle Ponders
the Sound" got interesting.
B+(*)

Hillary Scott & the Scott Family: Love Remains
(2016, Capitol Nashville): Nashville singer, the Lady-third of Lady
Antebellum, a group I've never had any more fondness for than I hold
for the "peculiar institution" their name evokes. Her first solo
album, produced by Ricky Skaggs, who works some banjo in with the
strings, disguised as a family affair and chock full of Jesus songs.
B-

Jimmy Scott: I Go Back Home (2009-10 [2017], Eden
River): Booklet doesn't provide recording dates, but a query returned
2009-10, which would place the diminutive singer's "last album" 4-5
years before his death at 88 in 2014. This ties into a movie I haven't
seen, and all the songs feature guests -- biggest surprise for me: two
duets with Joe Pesci -- and various bands. Mostly classic standards,
given his trademark quirks. He's always been an acquired taste, and I
can't say as I've ever really gotten into him, but seems like a touching
way to wind up a long and storied career.
B+(**) [cd]

Aubrie Sellers: New City Blues (2016, Warner Nashville):
Debut album, variously described as neotrad and/or alt-country, she calls
it "garage country," so a little unruly. Not sure whether covering "In
My Room" is a smart or lame choice.
B+(*)

Noura Mint Seymali: Arbina (2016, Glitterbeat): Griot
from Mauritania, second album, mother also one of the Saharan nation's
most famous singers. Not sure what the fuss is about her voice, other
than it seems a bit off. Band has plenty of groove.
B+(***)

Matthew Shipp/Michael Bisio: Live in Seattle (2015
[2016], Arena Music Promotion): Piano-bass duets. Players have long
history together, mostly in Shipp's trio, also with Ivo Perelman.
B+(**)

Matthew Shipp Trio: Piano Song (2016 [2017], Thirsty
Ear): Piano trio with Michael Bisio (bass) and Newman Taylor Baker
(drums), follows a remarkably prolific run where we've heard Shipp
in many diverse contexts, and comes with (not his first) vow to give
up recording. Still very much on top of his game here.
A- [cd]

Amanda Shires: My Piece of Land (2016, BMG):
Singer-songwriter from Lubbock, plays violin, but her first album
in 2005 and never got too comfortable.
B+(***)

Shura: Nothing's Real (2016, Polydor): British
electropop singer-songwriter, first album (after an EP and several
singles), production low-key, appealing.
B+(**)

Sia: This Is Acting (2016, Inertia/Monkey Puzzle/RCA):
Pop singer Sia Furler, from Australia, seventh album. Big voice, heavier
than most, tends to overdramatize, but that's always been part of the
craft.
B+(*)

Dave Soldier: The Eighth Hour of Amduat (2016 [2017],
Mulatta): Day job is neuroscientist at Columbia University, but he
has dabbled in highly experimental music since the late 1980s, such
as his Soldier String Quartet, a bluesier group called The Kropotkins,
and an ensemble of fourteen elephants (Thai Elephant Orchestra). This
is an "opera for mezzosoprano, choir, improvising soloists, orchestra
and electronics" based on Egyptian hieroglyphics -- the first credit
listed is Rita Lucarelli, for "Egyptology and translation of hieroglyphs
to Italian. Needless to say, I can't abide the diva (Sahoko Sato Timpone),
but the other featured musician is Marshall Allen, and the score breaks
into marvelous passages as often as it crashes and burns. Soldier's own
credits are for water bowls and electronics. Remarkable, although I
doubt I'll ever play it again.
B+(*) [cd]

Kandace Springs: Soul Eyes (2016, Blue Note): Singer,
on a jazz label but not very jazzy, based in Nashville but even less
country or r&b either.
B

Suede: Night Thoughts (2016, Suede): Britpop band,
emerged in the 1990s as part of a wave that never really broke though
in the US (where they were forced to do business as The London Suede).
Broke up after five albums 1993-2002, regrouping for one in 2013 and
now this one. Don't know whether they've always been so grandiose,
but this is heavier than opera, even if the slurry of sludge is made
from relatively lightweight metals.
C+

Susso: Keira (2016, Soundway): Bassist Huw Bennett,
built this from Mandinka field recordings made on a recent trip to
Gambia, an old-fashioned approach that celebrates the primitive even
as it passes.
B+(*)

Aki Takase/David Murray: Cherry Shakura (2016 [2017],
Intakt): Piano/sax duets, Murray also playing bass clarinet. The pair
recorded a previous album in 1991, Blue Monk, long a personal
favorite, and they add another Monk piece here, along with seven
originals (Takase 4, Murray 3) which makes this a bit harder to fall
for, but the pianist is superb, and Murray is as awesome as ever.
A- [cd]

Aaron Lee Tasjan: Silver Tears (2016, New West):
Singer-songwriter from Ohio but based in Nashville, filed under
Americana and he wears enough glitter for West Plains, but I have
quibbles, some sonic, some thematic. Still, the one about bars and
blues is amusing.
B

T.I.: Us or Else (2016, Grand Hustle/Roc Nation, EP):
Six cuts, 22:24, released Sept. 23, ahead of the 15-cut LP that came
out in December. Hard, bleek, and knowing (i.e., political), with
Killer Mike the key guest.
B+(***)

T.I.: Us or Else: Letter to the System (2016, Grand
Hustle/Roc Nation, EP): Expands the EP to 15 cuts, with the opening
"I Believe" especially profound. All through 2016 hip-hop artists have
been doubling down on Black Lives Matter, while the Trump backlash has
pushed hip-hop to ever more political and cultural import. Indeed, it's
not surprising that Trump is having trouble lining up "entertainment"
for his inaugural, as his demographic's grasp of American culture has
become so atrophied.
A-

Jonah Tolchin: Thousand Mile Night (2016, Yep Roc):
Blues-based singer-songwriter, third album, I thought the second
(Clover Lane) was real good, this clearly the same guy but
not his best songs.
B+(**)

Trio Red Space: Fields of Flat (2015 [2016], Relay):
Chicago avant trio, drummer Tim Daisy the composer here, with Mars
Williams (tenor/soprano sax) and Jeb Bishop (trombone) -- all former
members of Vandermark 5 (but no more than two at a time).
B+(**) [bc]

Ken Vandermark: Site Specific (2014-15 [2015],
Audiographic, 2CD): Solo, various saxes and clarinets, recorded in
four different locations selected for their unusual acoustic
properties -- "House," "Cavern," "Tracks" (a train trestle), and
"Pipe." I'm not remotely sharp enough to discern those effects,
but do find this to be one of Vandermark's more varied and engaging
solo efforts. CD package comes with a book.
B+(**) [bc]

Venetian Snares: Traditional Synthesizer Music (2016,
Timesig): Aaron Funk, born and evidently stuck in Winnipeg, Canada --
a 2005 album is titled Winnipeg Is a Frozen Shithole -- has
several dozen albums since 1998 (debut title: Eat Shit and Die).
These are somewhat retro pieces for modular synth and, I suspect,
drums -- if those are synth, I'm even more impressed.
A-

The Wainwright Sisters: Songs in the Dark (2015,
PIAS): Half-sisters, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche,
scions of a famous folkie clan, drawing on the family songbook,
trad., and a few others, focusing on lullabies, not merely of
interest to toddlers.
B+(**)

Warehouse: Super Low (2016, Bayonet): Atlanta group,
punkish, not all thrash, though they can do that.
B+(**)

Randy Weston/African Rhythms: The African Nubian Suite
(2012 [2017], African Rhythms, 2CD): Pianist, born in Brooklyn 86 years
before this was recorded but his parents came from Jamaica and he soon
developed a deep fascination with Africa and the spread of its culture
all around the world. Influenced by Duke Ellington, he's gone on to
write extended suites, but this is a live concert with various discrete
guest spots -- including pipa and balafon as well as trombone and Texas
tenor -- framed by Wayne Chandler's opening narration and Jayne Cortez's
closing poetry slam. Still, what elevates this from variety show is the
pianist's patter, not just introducing musicians but illuminating his
life's work and worldview.
A- [cd]

Wolter Wierbos/Jasper Stadhouders/Tim Daisy: Sounds in a
Garden (2016, Relay): Recorded in Chicago, home turf of
drummer Daisy, with two Dutch visitors: a venerable trombonist
(Wierbos) and a young guitarist (Stadhouders). Good showcase for
the trombonist.
B+(***) [bc]

David Wise: Till They Lay Me Down (2016 [2017],
self-released): Tenor saxophonist, debut album, backed by
guitar-bass-drums. I do love a great mainstream tenor sax show,
and this is more than half-way there. But the vocals turn me
off, both Wise at tne end and especially Jason Joseph on the
opener.
B+(**) [cd]

Eri Yamamoto Trio: Firefly (2012 [2013], AUM Fidelity):
Pianist, born in Osaka, Japan, moving to New York in 1995, has a
half-dozen albums since 2006, mostly trios like this one with David
Ambrosio on bass and Ikuo Takeuchi on drums.
B+(*)

Eri Yamamoto Trio: Life (2016, AUM Fidelity):
Another piano trio record, also with David Ambrosio (bass) and Ikuo
Takeuchi (drums, also all originals (except one from the drummer).
A little more vibrant, or maybe I just mean upbeat.
B+(**)

Miguel Zenón: Típico (2016 [2017], Miel Music):
Alto saxophonist, from Puerto Rico, teaches at New England Conservatory,
quickly established himself as one of his generation's top players.
Tenth album since 2002, many referring back to his Latin roots, as
title and cover do here -- but none of the instruments on the cover
exist in the album. Rather, he plays within the jazz tradition,
building on his long-running quartet -- Luis Perdomo (piano), Hans
Glawisching (bass), and Henry Cole (drums) -- and that frees him
up for some of his most dynamic playing in years.
A- [cd]

Zomba Prison Project: I Will Not Stop Singing (2016,
Six Degrees): Field recordings from a prison in Malawi, a landlocked
nation in southeastern Africa, second album from the project, could
be viewed as a various artists compilation but the artists are so
obscured I don't see the separate credits. I do hear many different
voices, divers styles, common complaints.
B+(**)

Recent Reissues, Compilations, Vault Discoveries

Mose Allison: American Legend: Live in California
(2006 [2015], Ibis): Live "best-of" from a four-day stand backed by
bass and drums, nearly a decade on the shelf when it appeared about
a year before his death (at 89) last November. I'm surprised by how
many songs I recognize, struck by the vitality of his piano, and must
note how little nuance his voice conveys.
B+(*)

Bobo Yéyé: Belle Époque in Upper Volta (1970s [2016],
Numero Group, 3CD): Formerly a landlocked French colony wedged between
Mali and Ghana, independent in 1958 nd renamed Burkina Faso in 1984,
capital Ouagadougou, little noted for its music or much of anything,
so this compilation is playing catch-up. First disc is by Volta Jazz;
second by Coulibaly Tidani, L'Authentique Orchestre Dafra Star; third
by several others. First is closer to highlife, a delight; second
leans toward the Malian griots; the third oddly charming even when
it's far from great. I haven't seen the book, allegedly substantial.
B+(***)

Brother Ahh/Sound Awareness: Move Ever Onward (1975
[2016], Manufactured): Bob Northern collected an impressive resume of
side-credits from 1959-69, ranging from Monk's Orchestra at Town
Hall to Coltrane's Africa/Brass Sessions to The Individualism
of Gil Evans to The Jazz Composers Orchestra and Liberation
Music Orchestra. He adopted the name Brother Ah as a DJ and used it
for his 1974 debut, Sound Awareness, then this. He plays drums,
flute, French horn, sitar, and "nature sounds," and is joined by a lot
of exotic instruments (including five koto players). Makes for exotic
groove pieces, but the vocals get in the way: Aiisha's are off-the-charts
bad, the poems and Kwesi Gilbert Northern's croon not much better.
B-

Brother Ah and the Sounds of Awareness: Key to Nowhere
(1983 [2016], Manufactured): Third (and evidently last) album for Bob
Northern's globe-and-cosmic-spanning post-jazz group, both concept and
percussion narrowed considerably, with the vocals moderated and the
leader more focused both on flute and French horn -- although "Nature's
Blues" is still pointedly "now age," and "Celebration" finds its groove.
B+(*)

Joe Bushkin: Live at the Embers 1952 (1952 [2016], Dot
Time): Pianist (1916-2004), started in the late 1930s with Bunny Berigan
and Eddie Condon, Discogs credits him with twenty-some albums 1950-89
although I hadn't previously noticed him. Trio cuts with Milt Hinton
and Papa Jo Jones, plus several features for trumpeter Buck Clayton,
still swinging in the bebop era.
B+(***)

Fanfare Ciocarlia: 20 (1996-2016 [2016], Asphalt
Tango): Gypsy brass band from Romania, weddings a specialty, cut
their first album (Radio Pascani) in 1996, and eight more
over two decades, summed up in this double-LP retrospective (runs
90 minutes, evidently no CD). The early wedding pieces seem to be
interchangeable, but their unique take makes occasional covers
stand out, as does the Kottarashky rap at the end.
A-

Chris McGregor & the Castle Lager Big Band: Jazz/The African
Sound (1963 [2016], Jazzman): South African pianist, white,
formed this mostly black big band a year before he took his smaller,
more famous group (The Blue Notes) into exile. With two pieces each
by McGregor, Kippie Moeketsi (clarinet), and Abdullah Ibrahim (not
part of the band), this aims at American swing bands but you still
can hear echoes of South African township jazz.
B+(**)

Elvis Presley: Way Down in the Jungle Room (1976
[2016], RCA/Legacy, 2CD): Collects two sessions from his last year,
released at the time as From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis,
Tennessee and Moody Blue, with one disc of masters and
a second of outtakes including studio patter. At the time this must
have sounded like utter crap the great man had been reduced to, but
as a historical document his magnificence somehow creeps through.
B+(*)

Putumayo Presents: African Rumba (1962-2015 [2016],
Putumayo World Music): Cuba's slave system was relatively unique in
how it preserved regional differences among Afro-Cubans, and it also
persisted longer than any other, so it's not surprising to find
several distinct cross-cultural flows, notably Cuban-Congo rumba.
I'm still unclear on exactly what flowed where, and can't say this
helps, but I can't complain about another helping of Africa's most
pleasurable groove. I should note that aside from one early track
from L'African Fiesta (Rochereau and Dr. Nico) the oldest thing
here dates from 2006, and that there are many alternatives, ranging
from Crammed Disc's 1950's vintage Roots of Rumba Rock to
Syllart's 1954-69 Rumba on the River to the Franco's 1956-87
The Very Best of the Rumba Giant of Zaire.
A- [cd]

Chris Rogers: Voyage Home (2001 [2017], Art of Life):
Trumpet player, has some big band experience, Discogs credits him with
a piece on a VA comp from 1997 but I haven't found anything else. This
long-shelved item is recommended for its famous sidemen -- Michael
Brecker, Ted Nash, Steve Khan, Xavier Davis, etc. I don't care much
for the postbop harmony, but did find myself looking up a sax solo
(it was Nash).
B [cd]

Sheer Mag: Compilation (2014-16 [2017], Wilsuns RC):
Punkish Philadelphia group, Tina Halladay is the singer, released a
4-song EP called 7" in 2014, another in 2015 (II 7"),
a third in 2016 (III 7"), with their label rolling up into a fair
sized LP, a public service.
B+(***) [bc]

Southern Family (2016, Elektra/Low Country Sound):
Producer Dave Cobb set up this showcase for a dozen relatively young
country singers to burnish their Christian/Family Values credentials.
Mixed bag, with Jason Isbell's "God Is a Working Man" and Brandy
Clark's 'I Cried" highlights and Morgane Stapleton's unsunny version
of "You Are My Sunshine" an anomaly.
B+(**)

Space Echo: The Mystery Behind the Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde
Finally Revealed! (1977-85 [2016], Analog Africa): A chain of
volcanic islands 350 miles off the coast of Senegal, uninhabited until
the 15th century when the Portuguese introduced sugar and slavery and
used the colony as a jumping-off point for even greater exploitations,
Cabo Verde remained a Portugese colony until 1975. Legend has it that
the local pop music was built on a shipwrecked cargo of synthesizers,
and that's what's featured here, along with guitar, horns, voices, etc.
B+(**)

Cecil Taylor: Live in the Black Forest (1978 [2016],
MPS): Reissue of a 1979 album, a SWF-Radio concert recorded in
Kirchzarten in West Germany with the pianist's explosive sextet:
Raphe Malik (trumpet), Jimmy Lyons (alto sax), Ramsey Ameen (violin),
Sirone (bass), and Ronald Shannon Jackson (drums). Two long pieces,
flashes of brilliance but not as good as they got -- cf., say, One
Too Many Salty Swift and Not Goodbye, from the same year.
B+(**)

The Three Sounds: Groovin' Hard: Live at the Penthouse
1964-1968 (1964-68 [2017], Resonance): Gene Harris' piano
trio, with Andrew Simpkins (bass) and Bill Dowdy (drums), originally
formed as a quartet in 1956 but soon lost their saxophonist, and went
on to record more than two dozen albums up to 1971. Cherry-picked
from several sessions (including a couple substitute drummers),
making sure that everything lives up to the title.
A- [cd]

Old Music

Simon Nabatov/Mark Helias/Tom Rainey: Tough Customer
(1992 [1993], Enja): Pianist, born in Moscow in 1959, moved to Rome
in 1979, then New York before settling in Cologne in 1989. The pianist
often dazzles, flash that may blind even him to his avant potential.
B+(***)

Monday, January 23. 2017

Still working on
EOY Aggregate List: up to 416
lists, with many recent ones focused on jazz (the best index of jazz EOY
lists is at
St. Louis Jazz Notes -- I've probably hit about half of them so far).
The jazz lists haven't had much effect overall -- little change there,
with close contests currently favoring Nick Cave (342) over Kanye West
(341) for 7th, and Bon Iver (287) over Angel Olsen (285) for 10th.

Since January 2, A Tribe Called Quest advanced from 7th to 6th (and
is currently -11 from 5th place Solange), Chance the Rapper is up from
10th to 9th, Leonard Cohen from 14th to 12th, and Rihanna from 19th to
17th (Kaytranada also passing Mitski). The Village Voice Critics Poll
comes out later this week. Knowing that poll as I do, I'd say that the
winning odds are about even between David Bowie (clear winner of my EOY
Aggregate List), Beyoncé (second here, her previous record a surprise
5th way ahead of my tracking file), and A Tribe Called Quest (the late
arrival/late gainer this year, by far the most likely album to finish
higher than on my list). If I had to wager on one of those, I'm thinking
A Tribe Called Quest: despite the law of averages the Voice Poll has
come up with a surprising number of upsets in recent years, especially
late releases of hip-hop/r&b albums.

I also rather expect Chance the Rapper to improve (from 9th to about
5th), and I wouldn't be surprised to find Leonard Cohen and Car Seat
Headrest sneaking into the top 10 (displacing Nick Cave, who may not
finish in the top 20, and Bon Iver, who should drop to around 15th. I
expect Radiohead (currently 4th) will drop some but probably not enough
to fall from the top ten. The top twenty have been pretty consistently
firewalled against lower records: Blood Orange is in 20th with 162,
just below Mitski (171), Kaytranada (179), and Rihanna (184), while
21st is Kendrick Lamar (139, a 16.5% gap), followed by Sturgill Simpson
(132), Jenny Hval (118), and Parquet Courts (115). I'd say the most
likely records to climb up/in the top fifty are: Parquet Courts (24),
Drive-By Truckers (31), Miranda Lambert (37), Young Thug (38), Wilco
(47). More outside chances: Maren Morris (46), Brandy Clark (48),
White Lung (58), Childish Gambino (71), NxWorries (79), Lori McKenna
(92).

For what little it's worth, the highest rated record I haven't heard
yet this year is Weyes Blood: Front Row Seat to Earth (57) -- a
record that has been slowly gaining ground. The recent focus on jazz
lists has raised the
whole genre. One effect is
that crossed-over BadBadNotGood (which, at least this time, I'm not
included to view as jazz at all, and will note that they didn't get
a single JCP vote) dropping from 1st to 3rd. The leaders right now
are Mary Halvorson and Wadada Leo Smith, eclipsing JCP poll winner
Henry Threadgill (4) and Jack DeJohnette (5). Aside from crossover
entries (BBNG in 3rd, Esperanza Spalding in 9th), the one record
that has really pulled ahead of JCP is Anna Högberg Attack --
probably shows that I have more avant and more European lists than
JCP did. The top-rated jazz record I haven't heard yet is Battle
Trance (35), followed by the 8-CD Joëlle Léandre box (93) and Jon
Lundbom's EPs (94 -- I've heard them as they came out, but never
got the finished compilation so haven't bothered grading them as
a whole). It's actually unusual that I've managed to listen so far
down the lists, but I suppose counting my own grades (up to five
points) has skewed that respect.

I expect I'll add the complete Voice poll standings into the
EOY Aggregate and then be done working on it. It's chewed up a
lot of time this year even though I've counted less than half
as many lists as last year, and kept me away from working on
other projects -- like compiling the Jazz Guide(s). I also
haven't made any effort to freeze my
2016 list, but should do
that no later than January 31. As it is, three (of six) A-
records this week have 2017 release dates (a fourth appeared
in Poland on October 24 but only arrived here last week).
Or I might freeze when I post January's Streamnotes -- likely
to be some time this coming week, given that I already have
134 reviews in the draft file.

Sunday, January 22. 2017

Just brief links this week. For what it's worth, about 3,000 people
showed up for Wichita's edition of the anti-Trump Women's March. As
someone who's always wanted politics to be boring and irrelevant, I'm
clearly not going to enjoy the next four years. On the other hand, I
voted for Hillary Clinton knowing full well that she, too, would bring
us four years or war and financial mayhem to protest against. But she's
boring enough we'd be hard pressed to get 30 people out to a march.
Whatever else you think, Trump is much more effective at moving us to
opposition.

Tom Cahill: Trump's new slogan is copied verbatim from horror film 'The
Purge': The article claims "You can't make this shit up," but if
the movie in question was, as the article also claims, based on Trump's
2016 campaign slogan, they already have. Of course, The Purge
isn't the only imaginable Trumpian future. When I saw 2015's Mad
Max: Fury Road, its fetishes struck me as so literally Trumpian
I half-expected the GOP to adopt it as an infomercial.

It is impossible to know what course American democracy will take under
Trump's presidency. The fears of authoritarianism may prove overblown,
and Trump may govern like a normal Republican. But the initial signs are
quite concerning. Trump believes he can demolish normal standards of
behavior, like the expectation of disclosing tax returns, and placing
assets in a blind trust. He has received the full cooperation of his
party, which controls Congress and has blocked any investigation or
other mechanism for exerting pressure. His dismissal of the news media
might simply be a slightly amped-up version of the conservative tradition
of media abuse, but it seems to augur something worse. Rather than making
snide cracks about liberal bias, Trump escalated into abuse and total
delegitimization. Will the abuse of the media be seen as an idiosyncratic
episode, or the beginning of something worse to come? We don't know. His
early behavior is consistent with (though far from proof of) the thesis
that he is an emerging autocrat. The people have granted him license to
steal and hide as he wishes. The bully has his pulpit.

The phrase that catches in my throat here is "normal Republican."
The fact is Republicans haven't been "normal" since they accepted
Richard Nixon's rewriting the rules on campaign ethics. Since then
they've hosted two of the most corrupt and ideologically corrosive
administrations in American history, while their efforts to spoil
(by any means possible) the Clinton and Obama administrations have
set new standards for political cynicism. The Trump administration
starts with no real popular legitimacy, and the Republican agenda
has even less popular support, so the big question will be whether
they can leverage their current grasp of institutional power to do
things contrary to the welfare and desires of most Americans. The
United States has a long and hallowed tradition of popular rule,
which has never before been challenged severely as Trump and his
party are doing.

The economic landscape adjusted to the missing prosperity, with economic
power concentrating at the highest levels. Trillions of dollars simply
went into mergers and acquisitions, leaving the economy more concentrated
than at any point in decades. Yet this power also seeped into everyday
life. Work became even more precarious and disintermediated towards
smaller, weak firms attached through contracts to rich flagships. Over
the past ten years workers in traditional employment declined slightly,
with contract and independent workers driving the increases. Beyond
making activism and regulations much more difficult, this shift greatly
accelerated inequality as corporate profits skyrocketed. People became
contract workers and took on boarders in their homes again, like those
trying to survive the nineteenth century, and elites celebrated it as
an entrepreneurial wonderland.

That the Democrats could never figure out what to do about this gap
in our economy showed up in the Democratic primary. An economist named
Gerald Friedman argued that Bernie Sanders's proposals would fix the gap,
that if his large expansion of public works, taxes, and spending had a
chance, the economy would get to and go far beyond its full potential.
He walked into a bandsaw of Democratic economists attacking his argument
as voodoo economics. Friedman's analysis did have serious flaws, but the
Democratic economists counter was that where we were was just the reality,
that there was little-to-no room to grow further and faster. This output
gap, introduced during Obama's years, was a permanent reduction in our
potential that we would have to live with. It was the economic equivalent
of the Democrats' "America is Already Great," a messaging that delivered
our country to Trump.

James Thindwa/Kathleen Geier: Does the Left Bear Any Blame for Donald
Trump? More waffling than I'd really like. I wasn't asked, but have
two answers: the first is no (if, as stated, 90 percent of Sanders
supporters backed Clinton she did better on the left than she did with
"locked in" constituencies like blacks, Latinos, and labor), and second,
it doesn't matter, because now and in the near future the Democrats need
the left even more than ever -- for activism, and for a more acute and
resonant critique of what Trump and the Republicans are doing. The real
shame is that there are still some mainstream Democrats who seem to be
much more ready to attack the left than to stand up against the right.
They need to change their priorities, and they can start by letting up
on their Cold War dogma about the left.

Monday, January 16. 2017

Fifty-one records in the list below, so at most I picked up two
extras I had graded but not recorded in the past, or maybe there's
a record or two I added to the database but somehow forgot to list
below. Either way, I clearly kept my ears to the grindstone all last
week, as I was working on updating the
Robert Christgau website and adding lists to this year's
EOY Aggregate file. I should update the former more often than
every six months, but it's done for now -- only missing
last week's EW on Run the Jewels and T.I. No idea how many more EOY
lists I'll add, but that project is done enough I could walk away from
it at any time.

While I'm thinking of it, let me make a pitch for an Indiegogo project
my nephew is working on:
Help Us Save the Elizabeth M. Fink Attica Archive. Liz was a radical
lawyer who joined the Attica Brothers defense team shortly after Nelson
Rockefeller ordered the massacre of dozens of prisoners and guards, and
saw the case to its conclusion thirty-some years later. In the process,
she collected a huge amount of evidence on what actually happened. My
nephew, Mike Hull, is a filmmaker and Liz entrusted him with the video
evidence before her death last year. He's already digitized the video
evidence, and now needs some funding to properly organize the archive
for posterity. Would appreciate it if you can help him out.

By the way, we went to a screening of a new film that Mike and
Jason Bailey produced. It was very funny, a pseudo-documentary about
an exploitation filmmaker in the 1970s and 1980s, cutting between
"newly discovered" film trailers and critics talking about how bad
they were. I think the title is Lost & Found, but it's
not the 2017 film by that name at IMDB, and I'm not seeing anything
on it either at the
Films on Consignment or
Fifth Column Filmworks websites, so I'll have to get more info
later.

Sunday, January 15. 2017

Odd that this week intellectuals promoting Trump had more interesting
things to say than intellectuals still defending Hillary Clinton. Not
necessary truer things, but less hackneyed and disturbing, even if the
overall trend is a race toward complete stupor.

Some scattered links this week:

Michelle Goldberg: Democrats Should Follow John Lewis' Lead: I have
considerable respect for Lewis, a long-time civil rights leader before
he became (thanks to gerrymandering) Georgia's token black Democrat in
the House, and it doesn't bother me in the least that he's decided not
to attend Trump's inaugural. I don't see why his presence is in any way
necessary, and I sure can't think of anything more stupefying a person
can do on that day than attend. But according to Goldberg, this all
turns on the Clinton Democrats' favorite scapegoat, Vladimir Putin:

Lewis was speaking for many of us who are aghast at the way Trump benefited
from Russian hacking and now appears to be returning the favor by taking
a fawning stance toward Putin. He spoke for those of us who are shocked by
the role of the FBI, which improperly publicized the reopening of its
investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails but refuses to say whether
it is investigating Trump's ties with Russia. Trump lost the popular vote;
he is president-elect only because the country values fidelity to the
democratic process over popular democracy itself. (The Constitution, it
turns out, may in fact be a suicide pact.) If the process itself was
crooked -- if Trump's campaign colluded in any way with Russia -- his
legitimacy disappears. If he scorns the Constitution by, say, violating
the Emoluments Clause, it disappears as well. A president who lost the
popular vote, who may have cheated to win the Electoral College, and who
will be contravening the Constitution the second he's sworn in is due
neither respect nor deference.

I suppose there's a focus group somewhere that says anti-Putin rants
are politically effective, but really, this has got to stop. The fact is
Hillary Clinton lost for dozens of reasons, and the fact that WikiLeaks
(with or without Russian help) exposed John Podesta and Donna Brazile
as political hacks didn't help but is surely way down the list. They
must realize as much because they never mention the substance of Russian
interference: they focus on Putin as an evil manipulator who will wind
up dominating a submissive US president because Trump owes his election
not to the millions of Americans who voted for him but to a foreign ogre
who orchestrated some dirty tricks -- a ruse they can only get away with
by replaying cold war stereotypes (e.g., Putin is a dictator, although
he's been elected several times by large margins in reasonably fair and
competitive elections, and his background in the KGB proves he's always
been anti-US); and secondly, they posit Trump as a dissenter from the
consensus views of the American "intelligence community" -- the secret
clan of spooks who have one of the world's worst track records for truth
and accuracy.

Worse still, I think, are the practical consequences: they are demanding
that the US ramp up its hostility toward Russia, including sanctions that
were previously in place for other supposed affronts, threatening a war
that unlike America's recent attacks on marginal or failed states could
be genuinely disastrous. And why should we risk world peace? To revenge
Podesta's tarnished reputation? Because Clinton Democrats can bear to
take responsibility for blowing the election to Donald Trump? There's
plenty of blame to go around for the latter, and it's well nigh time for
Clinton and her career to admit that they should have done a better job
campaigning. And when they do so, they should realize that obsessing
over the Trump-Putin connection was one of the things they did wrong.
The first fact is that people don't care. The second is that it's not
healthy for Democrats to be seen as the war party (and bear in mind that
Hillary, given her past hawkishness, is already so tainted).

Still, if you have to blame someone else, there are real ogres much
closer to home. Look first at the Republican laws aimed at suppressing
the vote, and gerrymandering congress. Look especially at the billion
dollars or so that the Koch network and other GOP mega-financiers spent
on getting their vote out. I think it's quite clear that there was a
sustained, methodical effort to undermine democracy in 2016, but it
wasn't the Russians who were behind it. It was the Republicans. Maybe
if you hack some emails -- seems like fair play at this point -- you
might even find a smoking gun showing that the Russians were working
for the Republicans (a much more credible story than vice versa; it
would, in fact, be reminiscent of finding out that Nixon interfered
with the talks to end the Vietnam War, or that Reagan kiboshed Carter's
efforts to negotiate the release of hostages in Tehran).

And by all means, note that Trump lost the popular vote to Clinton
by nearly three million votes, yet through a 227-year-old quirk in the
constitution is being allowed to install the most extreme right-wing
oligarchy ever. Then, if you like, you can point out that Putin enjoys
a similar relationship to Russia's oligarchy -- I never said he was
beyond reproach, let alone a saint, but has to be respected as leader
of a major nation, and (unlike Trump) a democratically-elected one at
that.

As for John Lewis, bless him: after spending his life working hard
to make this country a better place for all who live here, he's earned
the right to take a day off, especially when the alternative is having
to witness such tragedy.

Tony Karon: The US media is not equipped to handle a Trump White
House: There's an old adage that generals always prepare to refight
the last war, and as such are always surprised when a new war happens.
Something similar has been happening in media coverage of politics, but
in many ways the media landscape has changed over the last 4-8-16 years,
yet veterans of past campaigns (and clearly HRC fits this mold) still
seem to believe that what worked in the past must still work today. Not
clear whether Trump was smart or lucky -- I'd say he was selected from
the large Republican field because he fit the evolving right-wing media
model remarkably well, and he merely lucked out over Clinton due to a
wide range of factors, including an electoral structure which allowed
him to squeak out a win despite losing the popular vote by nearly three
million votes. Still, his election was especially astonishing to those
of us who thought, based on long experience, we understood how the
system works. In the end, his biggest assets were a vast electorate
willing to believe anything and the opportunistic and unscrupulous
media that indulged them with all manner of fantastic innuendo.

Mr Trump emerged as a public figure by mastering this fractured landscape,
where distinctions between news and entertainment were increasingly blurred
and where the business model's reliance on "click-bait" favours provocation.
He connects instinctively with a public likely to judge the veracity of
information not on its own merits, but according to existing attitudes
towards the news outlets publishing it. Thus the logic behind his
off-the-cuff remark last summer that "I could stand in the middle of 5th
Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters."

But while painting him as a pawn of Moscow is certainly unlikely to
weaken Mr Trump's political base, his empty promises on health care and
job creation are a real weakness, because failure to deliver will increase
the pain of many people who voted for him.

It's critically important, therefore, for the media to focus on what
Mr Trump's government and their allies on Capitol Hill are actually doing --
not simply what they say about what they're doing.

The problem is that sort of journalism hardly exists anymore, anywhere,
and certainly not on the 24-hour news torrents. And while the election
seemed to set new qualitative lows practically every week, post-election
coverage has been even lamer: even for "reporters" who never delve any
deeper than sifting quotes for gotchas, the only Washington source sure
to get reported on is Trump's latest tweetstorm -- and that's more for
entertainment than insight. You'd think that as America goes to hell the
vested interests that own big media would realize that they actually need
to better know and understand what's happening, but recent experience
suggests that groupthink (the Bushies used to call it "message discipline")
breaks hard.

From the beginning, those of us who did think it through realized
that anything like universal coverage could only be achieved in one
of two ways: single payer, which was not going to be politically
possible, or a three-legged stool of regulation, mandates, and
subsidies. [ . . . ]

It's actually amazing how thoroughly the right turned a blind eye
to this logic, and some -- maybe even a majority -- are still in denial.
But this is as ironclad a policy argument as I've ever seen; and it
means that you can't tamper with the basic structure without throwing
tens of millions of people out of coverage. You can't even scale back
the spending very much -- Obamacare is somewhat underfunded as is.

Will they decide to go ahead anyway, and risk opening the eyes of
working-class voters to the way they've been scammed? I have no idea.
But if Republicans do end up paying a big political price for their
willful policy ignorance, it couldn't happen to more deserving people.

I have little faith that sanity will save the Republicans at this
late date, but to destroy Obamacare they're going to run afoul of some
powerful special interests, and while they may try to assuage them by
permitting them to operate even more fraudulently than before the ACA
was passed, the result will be millions of people screwed, and most
likely the health care industry itself will lurch into contraction.

Kelefa Sanneh: Intellectuals for Trump: I must admit that I never
liked the idea of intellectuals -- I always thought that learning and
reasoning were things that everyone did, so dividing people between
a self-defining intellectual elite and the ignorant masses never set
well with my democratic instincts (not to mention that those same
self-identified intellectuals tended to exclude me, not because I
didn't know or think but because I often knew and thought the wrong
things -- elites, as ever, being jealous guardians of their ranks).
But I was also quick to realize that thinking doesn't always work
out right: indeed, that clever people could contort their command
of history, logic, and rhetoric to justify almost anything, most
often whatever their interests and upbringing (which is to say,
class identity) favored. So perhaps we're best off characterizing
intellectualism as a style with no intrinsic merit. Throughout
history, political leaders have had little trouble gaining the
rationalizing support of intellectuals, just as intellectuals
have struggled to raise their baser instincts to fine principles.

Donald Trump makes for a fine case in point. He has so little
cred and rapport with liberal intellectuals that some scurried off
to re-read Richard Hofstadter's Anti-Intellectualism in American
Life for a refresher course on how willfully stupid the people
can be. Even conservatives with intellectual pretensions were almost
unanimous in their dismay over Trump: his early vocal supporters were
almost exclusively limited to professional bigots like Ann Coulter
and Michael Savage. Still, what finally made Trump palatable to
Republican elites was the only thing they really cared about:
winning. So, as Sanneh chronicles, of late right-wing intellectuals
have started flocking to Trump. Two varieties have emerged. One,
including Heritage Foundation chief honcho Jim DeMint and his crew,
are ordinary conservatives continuing to spout their usual nostrums
while claiming validation by Trump's victory. The others, including
an anonymous group which evidently started "The Journal of American
Greatness" as "'an inside joke,' which in the course of a few months,
attracted a large following, and 'ceased to be a joke.'" The website
was subsequently deleted, but blogger Publius Decius Mus, the main
subject of Sanneh's piece, is still attempting to develop a coherent
intellectual Trumpism:

Decius is a longtime conservative, though a heterodox one. He had grown
frustrated with the Republican Party's devotion to laissez-faire economics
(or, in his description, "the free market über alles"), which left
Republican politicians ill-prepared to address rising inequality. "The
conservative talking point on income inequality has always been, It's
the aggregate that matters -- don't worry, as long as everyone can afford
food, clothing, and shelter," he says. "I think that rising income
inequality actually has a negative effect on social cohesion." He
rejects what he calls "punitive taxation" -- like many conservatives,
he suspects that Democrats' complaints about inequality are calculated
to mask the Party's true identity as the political home of the cosmopolitan
élite. But he suggests that a government might justifiably hamper
international trade, or subsidize an ailing industry, in order to
sustain particular communities and particular jobs. A farm subsidy,
a tariff, a targeted tax incentive, a restrictive approach to immigration:
these may be defensible, he thought, not on narrowly economic grounds
but as expressions of a country's determination to preserve its own ways
of life, and as evidence of the fundamental principle that the citizenry
has the right to ignore economic experts, especially when their track
records are dubious. (In this respect, Trumpism resembles the ideologically
heterogeneous populist-nationalist movements that have lately been ascendant
in Europe.) Most important, he thinks that conservatives should pay more
attention to the shifting needs of the citizens whom government ought to
serve, instead of assuming that Reagan's solutions will always and
everywhere be applicable. "In 1980, after a decade of stagnation, we
needed an infusion of individualism," he wrote. "In 2016, we are too
fragmented and atomized -- united for the most part only by being
equally under the thumb of the administrative state -- and desperately
need more unity."

Decius takes perverse pride in having been late to come around to
Trump; as a populist, he likes the fact that everyday American voters
recognized Trump's potential before he did. When Decius started paying
serious attention, around January, he discerned the outlines of a simple
and, in his view, eminently sensible political program: "less foreign
intervention, less trade, and more immigration restrictions."
[ . . . ] In his "Flight 93" essay, Decius called
Trump "the most liberal Republican nominee since Thomas Dewey," and he
didn't mean it as an insult. Trump argues that the government should do
more to insure that workers have good jobs, speaks very little about
religious imperatives, and excoriates the war in Iraq and wars of
occupation in general. Decius says that he isn't concerned about Trump's
seeming fondness for Russia; in his view, thoughtless provocations would
be much more dangerous. In his telling, Trump is a political centrist
who is misconstrued as an extremist.

Emphasis added, the rare insight a conservative's focus on social
order is likely to latch onto that liberals, whether individualistic
or utilitarian, tend to miss. Of course, what pushes conservatives in
that direction is the belief that cohesion involves acceptance of the
traditional pecking order.

The "Flight 93" post, by the way, comes off as a sick joke: he's
arguing that folks should vote for Trump for the same reason that
Flight 93 passengers committed suicide by rushing their hijackers
rather than wait for the hijackers to kill them (and presumably
others). No rational person can claim that Obama or Hillary would
affect much change, much less destroy the country, and no Republican
(much less a Trump partisan) can plausibly claim to care about the
effects of America's self-destruction on the rest of the world. The
post tacitly admits that electing Trump would be suicidal, yet like
suicide bombers all around the world (indeed, like their old "better
dead than red" slogan) were so convinced of their righteousness they
no longer cared about the consequences.

The rest of Decius' argument is more interesting, but still deeply
confused. He's not the first Republican to recognize that inequality
is a serious problem, not just because it hurts the people who get
pushed aside and makes the so-called winners look callous and unjust,
but because it threatens to undermine the entire fabric of society.
Kevin Phillips, who back around 1970 plotted out The Emerging
Republican Majority, wrote three remarkable books in 2004-08 --
American Dynasty, American Theocracy, and Bad
Money -- which recognized the problem squarely. And there have
been others, but the only policies that would mitigate inequality
are ones that move the nation to the left, and the mindset of the
conservative movement is constructed like a valve which only permits
policy to flow ever further to the right.

I think the key to Trump's primary victory was in how he reinforced
the party base's prejudices, thus showing he was one with them, without
embracing the slashed earth destruction of the liberal state which has
become unchallenged gospel among conservatives -- therefore the base
didn't find him either alarming (like Ted Cruz) or callow (like Marco
Rubio). On the other hand, to win the election Trump had to keep the
support of dogmatic conservatives and moneyed elites, which he paid for
by basically delivering the administration to their hands (cf. Pence
and the cabinet of billionaires and their hired guns). The dream that
Trump might blaze a new path that breaks from conservative orthodoxy
while avoiding the taint of liberal-baiting, even assuming he had the
imagination and desire to do so, has thus been foreclosed. The only
question is the extent to which he can act as a brake on the damage
his administration might cause, not least to him. And he really doesn't
strike me as sharp enough to keep himself out of trouble, much less to
help anyone else out.

Yet "intellectuals" will keep constructing fantasies about what a
truly Trumpist Trump might do, and in the end will wind up blaming his
failures on him not being Trumpist enough. After all, nothing defines
an intellectual like one's commitment to pursue unfounded assumptions
to ridiculous ends.

Justin Talbot-Zorn: Will Donald Trump Be the Most Pro-Monopoly President
in History? Given the competition, it's going to be hard to tell.
I can't recall any big cases either for Bush or Obama. The Clinton DOJ
mounted (and won) a case against Microsoft, which Ashcroft settled as
soon as he took over, achieving virtually nothing. But it's becoming
more widely recognized that mergers and lack of competition not only
drive profits up, increasing inequality, but also kill jobs.

While Republicans have been skeptical of antitrust enforcement since
Robert Bork came on the scene in the late 1970s, Democrats have been
part of the problem too. Bill Clinton took antitrust out of the party
platform in 1992, and, only in 2016 -- with a push from Bernie Sanders --
was the plank restored.

Michelle Goldberg: "This Evil Is All Around Us": On Trump's future
CIA Director, Mike Pompeo ("amid the fire hose of lunacy that is the
Trump transition, however, Pompeo's extremism has been overlooked").
Personally, I've always found him much less of a religious fanatic than
Todd Tiahrt, the truly horrible man he replaced, but that's an awfully
low bar. Unrelated aside: The Eagle ran a piece on Pompeo's finances,
characterizing him as
"an average American" in contrast to Trump's billionaires, disclosing
that assets only add up to $345K -- not much for a guy who campaigns on
his record of building businesses, or even for a guy who draws $174K/year
as a member of Congress. Makes you wonder how good of a manager he really
is.

Allegra Kirkland: GOP Senator: 'Yeah,' Trump's Cabinet Picks Should Be
Treated Differently: James Inhofe (R-OK), but he only has the least
filter between what passes for his brain and the orifice he utters his
thoughts through. But Republicans have always supported double standards,
much like they always support the powerful beating down on those they
perceive as week. Only Democrats believe in fair play, equal treatment,
or underdogs. Don't you know that?

Dahlia Lithwick: Jason Chaffetz Doesn't Care About Ethics: Chafetz
is a Republican congressman, head of the House Oversight Committee, and
the one ethical issue he seems to be concerned about is Walter Shaub (of
"the nonpartisan Office of Government Ethics") being at all critical of
Trump's numerous conflicts of interest.

Nancy LeTourneau: Being Outnumbered Doesn't Have to Mean Losing:
Posted back in August, before the prime example of its thesis became
infamous. Book review of Zachary Roth's The Great Suppression:
Voting Rights, Corporate Cash, and the Conservative Assault on
Democracy. Recommended to all you Democrats out there who're
wondering whether you need to bone up on Putin to better understand
American politics.

Matt Taibbi: Trump Nominee Jay Clayton Will Be the Most Conflicted SEC
Chair Ever: Taibbi doesn't seem to consider FDR's SEC pick, Joseph
Kennedy Sr., who had some pretty huge conflicts of interest, but back
in the 1930s tigers were expected to change their stripes when they
became public servants -- an expectation that seems completely alien
to this hyperindividualistic revolving door era. Also helped that FDR
himself was devoted to the public interest, something that never seems
to have occurred to Trump.

Monday, January 9. 2017

Ran through a lot of records last week, including finally dipping into
the 2017 release queue, starting with a Randy Weston joint that garnered
a couple votes in the
2016 Jazz Critics Poll,
then following up with Intakt's January releases and Satoko Fujii's best
Orchestra album ever. Along with Run the Jewels (a December 24 digital
release but I'm figuring the January 13 CD release to be more official)
I already have four A-list albums for
2017. But most of the albums listed
below are 2016 releases recommended by various EOY lists, whatever I
could find that tickled my fancy. Good hip-hop week. Of the HMs, the
one that tempted me most was by the Klezmatics.

I should note that Nat Hentoff died last week, at 91. I met him
once back in the 1970s, and at the time thought of him mostly as a
political columnist rather obsessed with defending free speech.
Since then I've gotten an inkling of his deep commitment to jazz.
It says something that the two jazz musicians I most closely link
to him are Ruby Braff and Cecil Taylor -- he was a huge critical
fan of both. Here's an obit from
Evan Haga. Probably much more out there.

I'm more or less caught up with the
EOY Aggregate file, but will
probably keep adding stragglers and late finds of personal interest. One
surprise at this point is that margins for two pair of high slots are
currently down to one vote: Beyonce 389-388 in 2nd over Frank Ocean,
and A Tribe Called Quest 298-297 in 6th over Nick Cave. Highest tie at
present is 89-89 between Avalanches and Iggy Pop for 28th place.

Link to share:
Can't Slow Down: Michaelangelo Matos' "notes toward a history of
the pop world of 1984."

Sunday, January 8. 2017

After a couple weeks I had enough open tabs to think I should hack
out another links-plus-comments column. Nothing systematic here, just
a few things that caught my fancy.

Some scattered links this week:

Jamelle Bouie: The Most Extreme Party Coalition Since the Civil War:
The first book I read on alternative politics back in the 1960s was called
The New Radicals, a survey of various thinkers and activists on the
New Left. In it, radicals were people who looked for root causes and core
principles, as opposed to those who casually wandered from one compromise
to another. While it's certainly true that radicals can be wrong, and that
they can become obsessed by their insights and oblivious to consequences,
the problem there is picking bad principles, not radical ones. In fact,
the only other time when "radical" was commonly used to describe politics
was after the Civil War, when the GOP was dominated by so-called radicals
like Thaddeus Stevens who advocated a deep-seated reconstruction of the
former Slave South. Bouie is right that today's GOP is chock full of folks
who hold very dangerous views, but those people are not radicals -- they're
just wrong. Indeed, in terms of their eagerness to impose their ideology
on a world that has moved way past it, they share much more than attitude
with pro-slavery activists like John Calhoun than with Republicans like
Stevens. But as Corey Robin has pointed out, the proper term for Calhoun
and his ilk isn't radical -- it's conservative. The first thing Bouie must
do to get smarter is to disabuse himself of the notion that conservatism
is a respectable political philosophy. Leftists learned this lesson long
ago, which is why they readily identify people who are willing to wreck
the world to save the rich -- people like Trump, Pence, and Ryan -- as
fascists. That may seem reflexive and excessive, but it serves us well.

Gorbachev: US Was Short-Sighted After Soviet Collapse: So true,
but America's effective policy toward the former Soviet Union was to
rub their faces in the dirt. We helped turn their collectivist economy
into a Mafia-run kleptocracy. The result was near-total economic collapse --
so severe that even life expectancy dipped by as much as a decade. And
to add insult to injury, the US started picking off former satellite
nations and SSRs that formerly propped up the Russian economy and turned
them westward, hugely expanding both NATO and the EU. This produced a
huge backlash in Russia, and its face is Vladimir Putin, a guy we fear
and loathe as a nationalist strongman, but who Russians flock to precisely
because he doesn't look like as an American flunky. Sure, it's not clear
why the US didn't handle the situation more adroitly, but from the start
American Cold Warriors did everything they could to prevent any form of
free/open/humane socialism from securing a foothold anywhere. Americans
always preferred to work through corrupt strongmen, and even if Yeltsin
didn't qualify as strong, he more than made it up as corrupt. Those who
complain so much about Putin today should bear this history in mind,
but the lesson they draw is inevitably wrong, because we are incapable
of considering what would be good for the welfare of people in other
nations -- Republicans, especially, don't even care about people living
here. And the only thing the foreign policy mandarins consider is whether
foreign leaders follow or challenge America's power dictates.

Bradley Klapper/Josef Federman/Edith M Lederer: US Rebukes and Allows
UN Condemnation of Settlements: Widely interpreted as a "parting shot"
rebuke of Netanyahu by the Obama administration, the fact is that it's
been US policy since 1967 that Israel must retreat to its pre-1967
armistice borders as part of a "land-for-peace" deal, a scheme which
later came to be described as "the two-state solution." That was,
after all, the basis for George Mitchell's mission to restart final
status talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and before
that was the official expectation for Bush's Roadmap, for the Clinton-era
Oslo Accords, and for Carter's peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
Mitchell himself spent most of his mission time trying to convince
Israel to halt settlement construction, and his complete failure to
limit Israel destroyed any hope for an American-brokered peace. In
past years, the intransigence of an Israeli PM like Yitzhak Shamir
would have led to a breach with the US, rectified by Israel electing
a more flexible leader (Yitzhak Rabin). Even GW Bush was able to put
pressure on Israel, at the time led by Ariel Sharon (not a pushover),
to dismantle settlements as part of his poisoned Gaza withdrawal. But
Obama never did anything like that, and over eight years Netanyahu
discovered he could walk all over Obama, ensuring that the US would
never challenge Israel in an international forum. Given that the
UNSCR resolution does nothing more than reiterate four decades of
US policy, the real question isn't why Obama didn't veto it. It's
why Obama didn't direct his ambassador to vote for it, indeed why
he didn't sponsor the resolution eight years ago, when it might have
been more effective -- when at least it would have served notice
that the US is serious about peace and justice in the Middle East.
Rather, Obama wasted eight years digging ever deeper holes in the
region, obliterating any doubts that the US could ever be a force
for peace, security, and equitable prosperity.

Of course, Netanyahu and his American political lackeys and
allies have gone ballistic over Obama's affront to Israeli power,
but that is less to punish him than to threaten Trump, who despite
his vaguer "America first" rhetoric has promised to be the most
servile American president ever. The vote stands, and hopefully
will help Palestinians seek justice in the international courts
system, but the intensity of the political rebuke that Obama's
belated gesture has raised, along with the imminent inauguration
of Trump, only goes to show how far the United States has strayed
from the ideals of international law and order, and cooperation,
that were once our best hope for world peace and prosperity. Trump
has, for instance, vowed to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, in
flagrant disregard for international law -- although that's pretty
minor compared to the practices Jeremy Scahill documents in Dirty
Wars: The World Is a Battlefield -- his big book on how Bush
and Obama ran roughshod over international law to prosecute their
misguided "war on terror." The significance of the 14-0 UNSCR vote
isn't just that it shows how isolated and delegitimized Israel has
become in the eyes of the world. It also shows how marginal the US
has become after decades pursuing policies Israel has pioneered.
One clear conclusion must be that any notion the US might once
have had of being an "honest broker" for peace have vanished. If
Europe, Russia, China, etc., really want to do something to bring
peace and justice to Israel-Palestine, they're going to start with
the recognition that the US is a big part of the problem and no or
little part of the solution. Obama, Trump, and Netanyahu, each in
his own way, have helped clarify that point.

Dennis Laumann: The first genocide of the 20th century happened in
Namibia: The party responsible was Germany, the time 1904-07,
the territory South-West Africa, the target the Herero, a tribe of
herders who got on the colonial power's wrong side mostly by just
being in the way. Laumann describes the Ottoman genocide against
the Armenians in 1915 as "indisputable" but it was nowhere near as
clear cut as Lt. Gen. Lothar von Trotha's Vernichtungsbefehl, which
specified: "Within the German borders, every Herero, whether armed
or unarmed, with or without cattle, shall be shot." Oddly enough, I
first learned about this event from a novel, Thomas Pynchon's V.,
where it appears as a key link in a chain of increasingly mechanized
slaughter. Also worth seeking out is Sven Lindqvist's book "Exterminate
All the Brutes": One Man's Odyssey Into the Heart of Darkness and the
Origins of European Genocide, which puts the Herero genocide into
the broader context of European colonial brutality, making it more
the culmination of the 19th century than a harbinger of the 20th.

Reihan Salam: Will Donald Trump Be FDR or Jimmy Carter? Sub-hed:
"We're on the cusp of either a transformative presidency or a party-killing
failure" -- oddly conflating Ronald Reagan with the former and Herbert
Hoover with the latter. I've never doubted that it's important to know
of and learn from history, but this sort of muddying makes me wonder.
The pairings suggest that Salam is uncertain whether Trump will be seen
as a winner (like Roosevelt-Reagan) or a loser (Hoover-Carter), so that's
one level of ignorance he brings to the table. Another is that while
Roosevelt is properly viewed as "transformational" that status is rooted
in his unique time period (the depression, which forced the state to
become a major economic factor, and the war, which transformed the state
into empire). On the other hand, there was nothing distinctive about
the Carter-Reagan years, and the myth of Reagan's success was largely
based on ignoring reality and engaging in fantasy -- the bankruptcy of
which would have long been obvious had not Democrats like Clinton, Gore,
and Obama not built their own careers on indulging that same fantasy.
At most, this article might have exposed the hollowness of this PoliSci
paradigm, but Salam rarely offers more than lines like "Trump will put
a candy-covered nationalist shell over Reaganism's chocolate-covered
peanut." Peanut? Wasn't Carter the peanut guy? Wasn't Reagan more into
jelly beans?

Actually, Salam does try to make a case that some sort of Trumpian
nationalism might be politically successful enough to move Trump into
the winners column, but this would involve building on ideas from the
center-left, including embracing and defending the safety net. Whether
even such a hypothetical program might work isn't analyzed, but the
more obvious problems are touched on: that Republican regulars would
sabotage any gestures he might make toward the center, and that Trump
himself isn't really serious about the platform he ran on (as evidenced,
for instance, by his cabinet). Of course, someone who knows a little
history might help out here. One might argue that Hoover, for instance,
would actually have preferred to move toward what became the New Deal
but that he was checked at every step by the dead-enders within his
own administration (e.g., Andrew Mellon). One might equally argue that
Carter wanted to move toward what eventually became Reaganism -- he
did in fact start the recession that broke the back of the American
labor movement, and his anti-regulation schemes and anti-communist
militancy paved the way for Reagan, but he too faced a debilitating
revolt from his own party. Whatever people thought when they voted
for Trump, what they wound up with was a politician deep in hock to
his party and the insatiable greed of their donors, and that's more
or less the only thing he'll ever be able to deliver. If you think
that's going to be some kind of booming, transformational success,
well, you're fucking nuts.

And yet the Republican Party has more power now than it has in decades,
and is acting as if the party received a tidal-wave mandate.

How did this happen? While Trump occasionally clashed with Republican
leaders during the campaign -- leading to the impression that he was at
war with the GOP establishment -- it was always over lack of fealty more
than policy. The main exception was trade but so as long as the Republican's
are "saying nice things" to Trump, he was perfectly happy to embrace almost
all of their policies. The rift with the GOP establishment was always less
than advertised.

Second, as has been often noted, Trump's lack of knowledge and curiosity
about policy has meant he is totally reliant on the people who have the
plans -- who are congressional republicans, K street lobbyists and industry
groups. There is no shadow world of public policy centers crafting a Trumpian
alternative to Republican orthodoxy. With the exception of trade and
immigration, Trump's views are standard issue Republican policies, albeit
sprinkled with extra bile.

Finally, because so much of the GOP power is safeguarded by gerrymandering,
congressional Republicans can act like they have a mandate without much fear
that swing voters will punish them.

All in all, it adds up to an odd situation: the Republican party is less
popular than its been in ages -- and has more power.

One part of why this happened was that the GOP donor network focused
on down-ballot races, which had the effect of lifting Trump up without
having to bear all his dead weight. Indeed, all they needed to close
the deal was to convince their voters that Hillary was a tad worse, or
that they had nothing to lose by giving Trump a chance. Indeed, they
seemed to understand that in the end Trump would turn into the party
toady he's since become. The other part is that the Democrats focused
on supporting Hillary over, and free from, their party -- all those
appeals to "moderate suburban Republican housewives" and neocons and
other chimerical groups. The biggest gripe I've had against Obama and
the Clintons is how they've neglected building a party to compete with
the Republicans, instead usurping the party apparatus for their own
cult of personality (and appeals to elite donors).

Paul Glastris/Nancy LeTourneau: Obama's Top 50 Accomplishments,
Revisited: Useful, but still when I read most of these I find
myself thinking "but"; e.g., number seven is "Ended U.S. Combat
Missions in Iraq and Afghanistan," but then he restarted both of
them, so it's unclear exactly what he accomplished there. And in
many more cases, he did such a poor job of defending them politically
that they are likely to be undone rather easily by Trump and the
Republican Congress. Still, the most remarkable item on the list,
one Trump is certain to reverse but unable to repeal, is: "50.
Avoided Scandal: Became the first president since Dwight Eisenhower
to serve two terms with no serious personal or political scandal."

Mike Konczal: Trump Is Capitalizing on the Anxiety Caused by the End of
Steady Employment: Refers to a recent book by David Weil: The
Fissured Workplace: Why Work Became So Bad for So Many and What Can Be
Dont to Improve It. This reminds me that one of the biggest political
losses in recent years has been the idea of countervailing power: that we
need counterbalances against any concentration of power. The worst trend
in recent years has been the increasing dominance of corporations over
their employees. Indeed, many people get a glimpse of what life under
fascist dictatorship is like every day they go to work.

One of the by-products of monopolization is the concentration of
economic growth in a few metro areas, mainly along the coasts, while
heartland areas fall behind. It is no coincidence that this pattern
of growing regional inequality looks remarkably like the 2016 electoral
map.

Lynn has been harping on this theme for quite a while. See,
especially, his book Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and
the Economics of Destruction (2010).

Paul Offit: The Very Real Threat of Trump's Climate Denialism:
As someone who owns some very expensive beachfront property, you'd
think Donald Trump would be more concerned about the global warming
which is almost certain to wipe out his investment, but in fact he's
nominated petro-industry shills Scott Pruitt and Rick Perry to the
most relevant government positions.

Daniel Stid: Why the GOP Congress Will Stop Trump From Going Too
Far: Maybe once in a blue moon, but the fact that an article
like this can even be written shows that pundits have yet to face
up to the fact that the real loonies in the Republican government
are the ones in Congress. I'd take more seriously a title like
"Will Trump Stop the GOP Congress From Going Too Far?" -- I think
the answer is no, basically because he's too lazy and careless
and doesn't really give a shit, but at least that's a question
one should think about -- if only to be conscious when he fails.

Matt Taibbi: Late Is Enough: On Thomas Friedman's New Book:
This is great satire, but I find it interesting that what Taibbi
sees as Friedman's only real idea -- "that technology was racing
past humanity's ability to govern itself wisely" -- is actually
true and important, so I'm left wondering why Friedman has never
managed to write anything insightful or interesting about it. Of
course, I haven't actually read much Friedman -- satire seems
to cover that need quite well -- but my own reflection is that
living in a world where we depend more and more on technology
that we rarely understand means that it is ever more important
that we develop trust, which means creating social constraints
so that the few people who do master this technology won't use
it against us. This flies directly in the face of actual policies
such as patents and protection of corporate trade secrets. This,
of course, never occurs to Friedman because he already trusts
the masters of technology to use their greed for public good.

Common Sense Budgeting - set fair reimbursements and apply them equally

Public oversight, public ownership

This could be spelled out a little better, but is all basically true,
and for sound reasons. However, single-payer only gets at part of the
problem -- basically the easy one, as insurance companies are mostly
parasitical, hence it's easy to imagine a scenario where everything is
better once they're gone. The bigger piece of the problem is for-profit
health care providers, and dealing with their conflicts of interest and
inefficiencies is more complex.

Saturday, January 7. 2017

While rumaging through my old
on-line notebooks, I noticed that in the
early days (2001, a bit before 9/11) I felt few inhibitions about writing
whatever happened to me or happened to catch my fancy. This included bits
of music and politics, which later came to dominate the blog, but also
books, movies, lectures I attended, dinners I cooked, and trips I took.
After 9/11, and especially as the Iraq War approached in 2003, I started
to take politics more seriously, and after I started
Recyled Goods in 2003 and
Jazz Consumer Guide in 2004 I found myself putting even more time
and effort into writing about music. To some extent they soon crowded
everything else out, but I also started having qualms about exposing
myself too much on-line, and thought it would look more professional
to focus. It had become a cliché that most blogs were nothing more
than exercises in personal vanity, and I certainly didn't want to be
viewed that way. I even came up with a plan to split the politics and
music into two distinct websites, dusting off the old titles I had used
for actual paper publications back in the 1970s: Notes on Everyday Life
and Terminal Zone. I even had a fanciful hope that I might entice some
of my old comrades into joining in, but alas that never came to pass.

Since the election I've been in a deep funk: not that I was in any
way looking forward to Hillary Clinton picking her own cabinet of war
criminals and Goldman-Sachs executives, but I really don't have anything
deeper to say about the Republican stranglehold on government that "I
told you so" -- in fact, if you want to read more on what's happening
today go back to the notebook link above and scan through the literally
millions of words on the subject I've written since 2001. I really did
tell you so, repeatedly, rarely mincing words, yet obviously millions
of Americans didn't get the message and couldn't figure it out on their
own (as millions who also didn't read me nonetheless managed to do).
So I can't point to much tangible satisfaction for all that work.

So over the last few weeks, as it's gotten nasty cold even here in
the land of the "south wind," about the only satisfaction I've gotten
has been in cooking the occasional nice dinner for friends. So I thought
I'd break the usual Monday (music)/Sunday (news) rut and write about
cooking, or at least jot down some notes on three recent dinners. None
came out without a hitch, but most of the food was memorable, and those
in attendance seemed to appreciate it.

I originally scheduled the first dinner for Sunday, December 18,
but didn't realize we had another commitment that day. This was a
party to honor Mary Harren, and it was suggested I fix something
for it, but the only direction I was given was "finger food," and
the only inspiration I had was to make cookies. I figured two batches
(four dozen) cookies would suffice, and expected to have what I would
need in stock, so didn't do any real planning.

I did two variations on the Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book: one
with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts, the other with dark
chocolate chips and pecans. The basic recipe calls for 1.5 sticks of
butter, 1 cup light brown sugar, 0.5 cup sugar, 0.5 tsp baking soda
and salt, 2 tsp vanilla, 1 whole egg plus 1 yolk. (I fried up the
leftover white for the dog.) Mix in the extras and bake 15-20 minutes
at 325F.

I ran into a problem on the second batch: ran out of butter. It
was brutal cold, so I tried to cheat. I had some Light Salted Butter
that we were never going to use, so melted two sticks. (I figured
what made it light was probably air, so more would get me closer,
but I don't think that's all there was to it. I also cut back on
the salt.) I also figured the dark chips and the pecans would help.
They came out a bit off, with a slightly chewier texture, but not
likely to draw much nitpicking from anyone else. On the other hand,
we didn't get a chance. The event got canceled, and we were stuck
with four dozen super-rich cookies.

Roast chicken with fennel, clemtines, and
ouzo.

Meanwhile, the first dinner was rescheduled for Tuesday, December
20. Just two guests: Kathy Jenkins, the widow of my next door neighbor
Tony Jenkins, and her mother. I asked for a hint as to what to fix,
and she said "chicken" and added "not spicy." My first thought was a
Moroccan chicken tagine with lemon peel and olives, then I thought
of another half-dozen superb chicken dishes. In the end, I figured
the winner would be Roasted Chicken with Clementines & Arak from
Yotam Ottolenghi's Jerusalem Cookbook, with its spectacular
medley of tastes plus the fact that it's extremely easy to produce
a stunning dish. With that I picked out three side dishes from the
same cookbook, plus my Iranian cucumber-yogurt standby (better than
Ottolenghi's cucumber-yogurt recipe). All four dishes could be done
well ahead of time and served room temp (or chilled for the yogurt),
so it's about as easy logistically as any possible meal. For dessert
I decided to break out of the Middle East and go with an old standby,
pineapple upside-down cake, topped with whipped cream.

I did my shopping on Monday, then got started that evening. I
made the cake using a recipe I picked up from the web -- somehow I
had misplaced my mother's recipe, and this one was terrific the
previous time I had made it. Two differences this time: I started
from a whole pineapple, so I cut exceptionally thick slices. I
used a glass quiche pan which unfortunately was smaller than I
really needed. I added some chopped pecans to the butter-brown
sugar mix, and skipped the maraschino cherries. The recipe called
for beating egg whites until fluffy and carefully folding them
into the batter -- something I didn't recall doing before, but
this time I came up with an exceptionally light batter.

But this time disaster struck: the cake appeared to bake nicely,
but when I flipped it over it turned to mush, its juices spilling
out onto the floor. After mopping up, my only idea to fix it was
to scoop it back into the pan and bake it some more. I wound up
giving it a good extra 30 minutes of baking time. When I put it
back into the oven, it was effectively pineapple pudding (actually,
quite tasty), and when I pulled it out it was more like cobbler.
I tasted it: it was still rather mushy, but very sweet and a bit
sour, an aesthetic disaster but a damned tasty one, so I decided
to use it. I let it sit overnight before flipping it over. Next
day I whipped some cream with a little sugar and vanilla to serve
over it.

I bought a whole chicken plus a package of thighs, so I cut them
up and prepared the marinade: ouzo, olive oil, orange juice, lemon
juice, grain mustard, brown sugar, fresh thyme, fennel seeds, salt
and pepper. The recipe calls for arak, but offers ouzo or pernod as
substitutes. First time I made it I was able to find arak from Lebanon,
but since I wasn't able to find it again, I picked up a bottle of ouzo
as a backup. I also had two fennel bulbs, which I cut into chunks, and
a bag of clementines -- I sliced about six into rounds, and juiced a
couple more. They went into two freezer bags with the chicken and
marinade, and into the refrigerator overnight, until I was ready to
roast the chicken. At that point the whole thing is dumped into a
roasting pan and tidied up a bit, to be roasted in a 475F oven for
35-45 minutes.

That evening I also made the cucumber-yogurt (mast va khiar):
peel, seed, and dice two cucumbers, and salt them in a colander;
chop 5-7 scallions, and put them into a second bowl, along with
a handful each (about 1/2 cup) of golden raisins and black walnuts,
plus mint (1 tsp dried or 1 tbs fresh chopped) and a sprinkle of
ground white pepper; add 2 cups of plain yogurt (Greek Gods doesn't
require draining like I used to have to do with Dannon); fold in
the unrinsed cucumbers, check the salt, and refrigerate.

The three other Ottolenghi side dishes were: roasted sweet potatoes
& fresh figs (I substitute mejdol dates, a big improvement); chunky
zucchini & tomato salad; and parsley & barley salad. I made
them the next afternoon, and pretty much had them done by the time
to start roasting the chicken.

I think I had three small-ish sweet potatoes. I left the peels on,
but cut them into wedges 3-4 inches long; dressed them with olive oil,
salt and pepper, and lined them up on a foil-lined baking tray; roasted
them at 475F for 25 minutes; lined them up on a serving dish. I pitted
about a dozen mejdol dates and cut them into slivers (four per date),
and tucked them around the sweet potatoes. I took a half-dozen scallions,
cut them into 3-inch lengths (splitting the whites in half), sauteed
them in olive oil, and dumped them (with the oil) on top of the sweet
potatoes. I then drizzled a balsamic reduction (from a store bottle,
although in the past I've followed the recipe and done it from scratch)
over the dish, then sprinkled some soft goat cheese.

For the zucchini-tomato salad, I started by cutting three zucchini
and three tomatoes in half; I brushed the cut ends with olive oil, and
seared them in a very hot cast iron skillet until they were blackened.
I then took the zucchini and tomatoes and put them onto a foil-lined
baking sheet, cut-side down; roasted them 20 minutes at 425F; cooled
and coarsely chopped them. I mixed the dressing: yogurt, garlic, lemon
zest and juice, date syrup, black walnuts, mint, parsley, salt and
black pepper; then folded the zucchini and tomatoes in. I thought
this was overly sweet last time I made it, so was careful with the
date syrup this time.

For the parsley-barley salad: cover 1/4 cup pearl barley with water
and boil for 30-35 minutes. On the side, crumble the feta cheese and
dress with olive oil, za'atar, toasted/crushed coriander seeds, and
cumin. Mix the barley with chopped parsley, chopped scallions, roasted
cashew nuts, a diced green bell pepper, and dress with allspice and
lemon juice. The recipe suggests plating the salad and topping it with
spiced feta, but I just mixed the two together, and checked the salt
and pepper.

This had all proceeded smoothly until just after 5PM when I was
warming the oven up, planning on having the chicken come out of the
oven at 6:30. Then the power went out, leaving me without a main
course -- or amenities, like lights. We conferred and decided to
go ahead. The power came back on just moments before the guests
arrived, so I turned the oven on and we had four lovely dishes for
a first course. The chicken was ready an hour later, and I served
it straight out of the roasting pan without bothering to reduce the
juices. So it wasn't optimal -- I probably should have let it brown
a few more minutes to crisp up the skin, and the reduced juices
would have intensified the flavor (especially the fennel), but
having waited so long I went with the short cut.

Finally, we finished with the pineapple upside-down mess, topped
with whipped cream. It was pretty ugly, but scrumptious. After dinner
I did reduce the pan juices and poured them over the leftovers. They
reheated nicely.

Second dinner was December 24, Xmas Eve. Ever since my parents died
I've cooked that evening, usually just for my sister and her son. That
was the plan this year, but Kathy messed up the dates and planned some
sort of pot luck get-together for her friends that evening, and Ram was
off with his girlfriend's family. So we wound up inviting Kathy's friends
to our place for my dinner. Only the vegan brought food, which was just
as well given that I didn't even have a salad she'd deem edible.

My only idea going into the dinner was that I had a duck in the freezer
that needed to be cooked. I remembered that I had once attempted to fix a
Thai panang curry duck -- it was my favorite dish at a Thai restaurant we
used to frequent in Brookline (Sawasdee). I've done some Thai cooking but
not a lot -- did a birthday dinner once but I can't find mention of it in
my notebook (2003 is probable; did Moroccan in 2002, nothing in 2004,
feijoada in 2005, Peking duck in 2006 -- note there says I had done Thai,
and I know I've only done it once), and I make pad thai rather often. So
I thought I'd try panang curry duck again, plus a pad thai, a couple side
dishes, and our traditional Amish date pudding for dessert.

Roast duck (minus one wing).

Problem is I've had to extrapolate a recipe from various sources. I
have several panang curry recipes (and looked up a couple more on the
web), and sort of mixed them together. Not fond of hot chilis, I limited
myself to one long serrano (seeded), which I pounded into a paste with
garlic, galangal, lemongrass, cilantro stems, coriander and cumin seeds
(ground), shallots, shrimp paste, lime zest and leaves, peanuts, salt,
and white pepper. The night before, I defrosted the duck, pricked the
skin, and rubbed it with roasted Szechuan pepper-salt and paprika, and
propped it on a rack in a baking dish. I put it into a 450F oven, which
15 minutes later I turned down to 350F, and roasted it for another hour
or more, until it read 180F at the thigh bone. Next day I chopped it up,
more or less Chinese-style.

I opened a can of chickpeas and picked the skins off. I peeled two
sweet potatoes, cut them into 3/4-inch cubes and steamed them until
barely done, about 8 minutes. To finish the dish, I fried the curry
paste in a little oil, then added two cans of coconut milk. I probably
should have added chiffonaded lime leaves and adjusted the seasoning
with a little palm sugar and fish sauce, but wasn't paying enough
attention to the recipe I was improvising on. I added the chickpeas
and sweet potatoes, then finally the duck and cooked a few minutes
to get it evenly heated through. Then I added a handful of chopped
Thai basil, and it was done.

Earlier that afternoon I put the side dishes together: cucumber
salad, water chestnut salad, and sweet & sour eggplant salad.
The cucumber was peeled, seeded, sliced, salted, and rinsed, then
dressed with sugar, fish sauce, and lemon juice. (Recipe calls for
a grated onion, chilis and prawn powder, but I don't recall using
them.) The water chestnuts were peeled and sliced thin. I mixed
them with a can of crabmeat and a can of tiny shrimp, lime juice,
roasted peanuts, fried garlic and shallots (both bought that way),
half a serrano chili, and cilantro. I made a dressing with tamarind
juice, fish sauce, brown and regular sugar, and poured it over
everything.

I roasted three Japanese eggplant -- it took about twice as long
as the recipe called for. I made a chili-tamarind sauce from dried
shrimp (softened), garlic, shallots, a serrano chili, tamarind
concentrate, fish sauce, palm sugar, and peanut oil, and added
that to the chopped eggplant, along with a finely chopped stalk
of lemongrass, more shallots, lemon juice, cilantro, and mint.
The three salads were done early and out of the workflow.

That just left the pad thai. I thawed and peeled two pounds
of large shrimp (recipe calls for 1/2 pound, but expects other
meat; I usually do one pound, but with extra guests I decided
to scale up everything but the noodles). I soaked some dried
shrimp -- they add a little crunch to the garlic. About 40
minutes before cooking, I soaked 8 oz. of thin rice noodles.
I mixed up a batch-and-a-half of sauce: 6 tbs sugar, 9 tbs
white vinegar, 6 tbs fish sauce, 2 tbs ketchup. I cut a
bunch (plus a couple extra) scallions into 2-inch lengths,
and split the white ends. I broke four eggs into a bowl and
mixed them with a fork.

The stir fry goes fast: I heated my largest skillet, added
some peanut oil, about 8 cloves of chopped garlic, the dried
shrimp, then the large shrimp. When they were mostly cooked,
I added the sauce, brought it to a boil, then added the noodles,
stirred to coat, and covered the pan for a couple minutes. I
lifted the cover, stirred to evenly coat the noodles, pushed
them to one side and poured the eggs into the other, flipping
them as they set, then scattering them throughout the noodles.
Then I added the scallions, stirred some more, and finished with
dish with a couple handfuls of chopped peanuts. I use Victor
Sodsook's True Thai recipe mostly for the sauce, leaving
out all sorts of complication (especially the usual bean sprouts).
Sometimes I add a little sesame oil, but this time I didn't.

This effectively worked out to about half of my old Thai birthday
dinner, but was more than enough food for eight people. I referred
to three cookbooks: Sodsook, Su-Mei Yu's Cracking the Coconut,
and Charmaine Solomon's trusty Asian Cookbook (my first, its
binding now failing, but she does an admirable job of saving these
cuisines from excess complication). Thanks to a large Vietnamese
population here in Wichita, it's pretty easy to get ingredients --
only problems I had were cilantro roots (I used stems and ground
seeds) and kaffir lime leaves (I bought "lemon leaves"). I could
have bought Thai bird chilis, but felt more comfortable working
with serranos.

I made the date pudding the night before. I found the recipe
in the newspaper long ago, and copied and adapted it. Pit and
chop two cups of mejdol dates, put into a bowl with 2 tsp soda
and 2 tbs butter, cover with 2 cups boiling water, and let soak
for an hour. Mix two eggs, 2 cups sugar, 2.25 cups flour, 1 tsp
vanilla, then add 5/8 cups chopped black walnuts. Bake in a 9x13
cake pan at 275F for about 50 minutes (more like 70). The middle
collapses as it cools, so you get cakey on the outside, pudding
in the middle. Make a caramel sauce with 1.5 cups brown sugar,
2 tbs cornstarch, 1 cup water, and a dash of salt, boiled 6-8
minutes. Stir in 2 tbs butter, 2 tbs cream, 1/2 tsp vanilla,
and 1/8 tsp maple extract, then dump it on the pudding. Let it
all cool, then whip 1.5 cups heavy cream with a tsp sugar and
a half-tsp vanilla, and spread over the pudding, and refrigerate.
Probably the richest, certainly the most delicious, dessert ever
concocted.

Third dinner was Wednesday, December 28: our annual Hannukah dinner
ritual. No menorahs, no old tales of Hebrew military prowess, just an
excuse to fry up a batch of potato pancakes (latkes). The main course
is quite simple, but they're best when served hot off the griddle, so
I spend most of the dinner over a hot stove while everyone else enjoys
themselves. But I've also developed a repertoire of side dishes to go
with them, and added a few wrinkles this year.

The main things you need are sour cream and applesauce. We buy the
former (Daisy), but I've learned to make the latter. I take four gala
apples, peel, quarter, and core them, and put them in a saucepan with
1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, and the zest of one
lemon. Bring it to a boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes, then uncover
and cook most of the liquid away. Add a little cinnamon, and mush with
a potato masher. (I adapted this from The Gourmet Cookbook, which
called for twice the sugar, half the cinnamon, and 2 tbs calvados -- an
apple brandy, a very Gourmet touch. I don't know apples, so
promptly forgot what I bought. Looking at charts they could have been
honeycrisp instead of gala -- both seem to be good sauce choices.)

I also like to serve cured salmon. This year I got a 2-lb slab of
Canadian, skin on, dusted all sides with 3 tbs of kosher salt, put it
in a freezer bag and refrigerated overnight. Next day I washed it off,
found it wasn't too salty (if so, soak until it isn't), and sliced it
thin. It's basically homemade lox without the smoke (which turns out
not to be very important; commercial nova or scottish lox is "cold
smoked" at temperatures below 85F, which means they're depending on
the salt, and not the smoke, for texture, preservation and bacteria
prevention).

I also make chopped liver, and while Joan Nathan's recipe served
me well for many years, Ottolenghi's is even better: hard boil 5 eggs,
and set aside; slice 2 cups of onions and sauté them, until dark, in
duck fat (reserved from above). Move them using a slotted spoon to the
food processor bowl, then sauté the chicken livers until they are
cooked through. Add them to the food processor. Peel and grate four
of the eggs and add them to the food processor, along with 4 tbs of
dessert wine, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp black pepper. Pulse to chop
(don't overdo it). Garnish with the other egg (grated), scallions
and/or chives. I make this every year, but as we all know chopped
liver is best spread on fresh rye bread, so I thought I'd make some
rye bread this year.

Rye bread and pumpernickel bread, fresh
from oven.

One thing I am not is a practiced breadmaker, so I figured this
task to be a learning experience. I decided to try two different
recipes, both from Joan Nathan, scaled down to produce one loaf
each. Both involved starting the night before. The pumpernickel
called for creating a starter the night before (1 tbs dry yeast,
1 cup water, 1/4 cup white bread flour, 1/4 cup rye flour), then
mixing the dough proper the next day. The rye bread recipe mixed
that dough the night before: 1.5 tbs dry yeast, 1 tbs honey, 1/2
cup water (let this proof), 3.5 cups rye flour, 3.5 cups white
bread flour, 1 tbs salt, 1 tbs sugar, 3-4 tbs caraway seeds, 2
tbs vegetable oil, about 1.5 cups lager beer. I halved this,
tried mixing it up and kneading it in my horrible KitchenAid
mixer, hating it more and more, eventually kneading it by hand
(and suspecting the whole thing was way too dry, but what do
I know?). It did rise though, and I punched it down, shaped it
to fit the loaf pan, cut diagonal slits on top, and let it rise
again.

Meanwhile, I screwed up the pumpernickel. I mixed up the dough:
1 tbs dry yeast, 2 tbs honey, 1-2/3 cup water, 3-1/3 cups rye
flour, 2 cups whole wheat flour, 2 cups white bread flour, 1 tbs
salt, 2 tbs caraway seeds (in both cases I ground the seeds up),
4 tbs oil, 4 tbs dark molasses. Again, the mixer was awful, and
the dough seemed too dry, so I added more (and more) water. Then
I remembered the starter, added it, and found the dough was too
wet (but at least much easier to knead). I let this rise, punched
it down, formed it to fit the loaf pan (tearing off an excess bit),
cut orthogonal slashes, and let it rise again. The pumpernickel
rose about 50% more than the plain rye bread, filling up the loaf
pan nicely. I beat a raw egg and painted the tops of both loaves,
and sprinkled some whole caraway seeds on top.

The recipes called for different baking temperatures/times,
but I decided to standardize on the pumpernickel: 350F for 1
hour (the rye called for 375F for 50-55 minutes). I put a bowl
of water on the lower left rack, and the two loaves on the top
rack, near the middle. They came out looking and smelling like
rye bread, the pumpernickel a bit larger and softer (but, contrary
to expectations, no darker than the rye). Both were more than
acceptable.

I also usually serve herring in sour cream and in wine sauce,
the two kinds it's possible to buy here. I would, of course, prefer
to dress my own herring -- as I did, for instance, when I brought
some maatjes back from Buffalo last summer, but that wasn't an
option this time. However, I did find some smoked herring packed
in olive oil in a middle eastern store, so I had the idea of drying
that off and making a mustard sauce for it. I found a Swedish recipe
online and adapted it. I was out of whole grain mustard, so used
Dijon then ground up some black mustard seeds and mixed them in.
I used light olive oil instead of grapeseed. I tried whisking up
an emulsion with vinegar and egg yolks, and failed. I put it aside,
disgusted, then tried again later and it worked fine -- I've read
that those yolks have to be room temperature, something I should
remember in the future. Not perfect, but not bad.

As I said, the latkes were straightforward. I chopped three
onions, and put them in a large bowl. I peeled five russet potatoes,
soaked them in water, then ran them through the coarse grating disc
in the food processor, then used the knife to chop them into small
bits. I mixed the potatoes in with the onions, and added five eggs,
salt, and pepper. I should have put a piece of plastic wrap in to
keep the potatoes from discoloring, but they would wind up being
browned anyway. I took a large frying pan and an even larger griddle,
heated them up on the stove, added oil, and ladled out 3-to-4-inch
discs, flipping them once they set and browned, then piling them
onto a paper-towel-lined plate, to be served as fast as they came
out. Don't know how long it took to work through them all.

I rarely make dessert for latke dinners, but decided to try a
couple of things this time. Ottolenghi has a recipe for pears poached
in wine and cardamom (and saffron), which seemed like a good choice.
I also tried Nathan's reiz kugel, but somehow didn't get it to thicken
sufficiently, so it resembled a thin, cold, sweet soup. My one real
disappointment, although like the pineapple upside-down mess the taste
was close to right, so the embarrassment was mostly aesthetic.

Pineapple upside-down cake (from an earlier
time when I didn't screw it up).

Of course, I rarely cook like this for just the two of us. For one
thing, I almost never have the ingredients I'd need for a dinner with
three or more dishes, so I have to go out shopping -- and in some ways
that's the hardest (certainly the most unpleasant) part of any meal.
One thing I like about inviting guests for dinner is the engineering
aspect of planning the project, envisioning how the whole dinner fits
together, figuring out the logistics, especially how to manage my own
time so each meal comes together smoothly. Practice has made me better
at that; also steadier and more resourceful as things (as they inevitably
do) go wrong. These dinners give me a sense of accomplishment that little
else in my life these days offers. But more basically, it's simply a
pleasure to offer other people pleasure, and I can fairly say that each
of these meals did just that. And they remind me of one of the central
truths of our times: there is an extraordinary amount of knowledge at our
fingertips, and much of the material world is easily (and economically)
accessible if we just know what to look for, and to expect. I think,
these meals prove that much.

By the way, I took a break from writing this afternoon to whip up a
small dinner-for-two, something very simple and basic. I had some frozen
pacific cod in the freezer, so I semi-thawed it, and cut the thicker
chunks in half (so they were about 1/2-inch thick). I opened a can of
fire-roasted diced tomatoes, added a little sugar, about 2 tbs capers,
juice of one lemon, and 15 or so pitted green olives (cut in half). I
Mixed that sauce up, spooned it over the fish in a baking pan, sprinkled
panko bread crumbs on top, drizzled a little olive oil, and baked it
at 400F for 40 minutes. Meanwhile, I stir-fried lima beans (fordhooks)
for a side dish, using Irene Kuo's recipe (from The Key to Chinese
Cooking): thaw, sizzle in some oil, sprinkle with salt and sugar,
add chicken stock and cover to steam about five minutes, remove cover
and boil off the excess liquid, and drizzle a little toasted sesame oil
to finish.

Monday, January 2. 2017

Most of the week's discoveries have already been unveiled in
Saturday's
Streamnotes post,
although I did add one more A- record a day later, from Venetian
Snares -- a synth programmer from Winnipeg with a jazz master's
sense of rhythm. Also came close to adding the new Klezmatics
album, but I stretched its consideration beyond my cutoff moment.
Whereas alt-country provided most of my A- finds last week, this
week's winners were mostly rap albums.

I temporarily caught up with my backlog of EOY lists, not that I
won't keep adding data at least up through Pazz & Jop (as it used
to be known). Top of the list is pretty consistent at this point, with
only minor fluctuations and no trends I can discern. The
top 50 reads as follows (with my grades in brackets):

David Bowie: Blackstar (Columbia) {491} [***]

Beyonce: Lemonade (Parkwood/Columbia) {378} [A-]

Frank Ocean: Blonde (Boys Don't Cry) {367} [**]

Radiohead: A Moon Shaped Pool (XL) {326} [B]

Solange: A Seat at the Table (Saint/Columbia) {293} [**]

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Skeleton Tree (Bad Seed) {276} [B-]

A Tribe Called Quest: We Got It From Here . . . Thank You 4 Your Service (Epic) {273} [A-]

Miranda Lambert: The Weight of These Wings (Sony Music Nashville) {47} [A-]

Noname: Telefone (self-released) {47} [**]

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: Nonagon Infinity (ATO) {46} [*]

Kevin Morby: Singing Saw (Dead Oceans) {43} [***]

Christine and the Queens: Chaleur Humaine (Because) {41} [**]

Paul Simon: Stranger to Stranger (Concord) {41} [*]

Wilco: Schmilco (dBpm) {41} [*]

BadBadNotGood: IV (Innovative Leisure) {40} [B]

Probably the first year ever where I've heard all top-50 albums (informed
as I am that this year's Chaleur Humaine is just a British repackaging
of last year's eponymous Christine and the Queens album -- the one
I've heard -- which was itself a reissue of the 2014 French Chaleur
Humaine). The top five have been stable for a while now, even though
the 2-3 margin is just 11 (I don't think the lead has ever changed). I
had originally expected Beyoncé to catch Bowie but the closest they've
come was about 30 points, and Bowie has been steadily building his lead
over the last 2-3 weeks. I suspect she's lost votes (at least positions)
to sister Solange.

Note that 6-7-8 are still very close (6 points total). Nick Cave
does exceptionally well in non-English-language pubs, and I've picked
up quite a few of them. Tribe got a late start, but seems to have hit
a plateau, at least here -- I figure they'll finish 4th in the Voice
poll, behind Bowie-Beyoncé-Ocean. The 9-10 race is also close (1 point),
but 11-16 is pretty well spread out, 17-20 close (5 points), then a
big jump to 21 (27 points).

My grade breakdown is: 15 A-, 10 ***, 8 **, 10 *, 3 B, 3 B-, 1 C+. I'd
be real surprised if any previous year broke that favorably. (Last year I
had 9 A- [-6], 11 *** [-1], 12 * [+2], and 9 B/lower [+2], with 3 unrated.)
Number of lists compiled is down from 720 to 231, so there are quite a few
more I could add if the spirit moves me. Total records are down from 5285
to 2402.

At this point, all of the new jazz CDs in my queue are scheduled for
release in 2017, so I've felt justified in ignoring them. (I also held a
few that I have listened to back for January's Streamnotes.) I'll start
digging into them over the next week or two, but for a while I plan on
concentrating on 2016 releases I've missed. Maybe start thinking about
what to do in this coming year.